THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR 

The  Jungle  Folk 
of  Africa 

Illustrated,  8vo,  cloth,  net  $1.50 

"A  personal  narrative,  most  realis- 
tic, most  truthful,  most  fascinating — 
the  author  knows  extremely  well  what 
he  is  writing  about.  ""^ -Chicago  Tribune. 

"As  one  reads,  the  mystery  and 
terror  of  the  jungle  seem  to  penetrate 
his  soul,  yet  he  reads  on  reluctant  to 
lay  down  a  book  so  grimly  fascinat- 
ing. ' ' — Presbyterian. 

"A  book  that  is  remarkable  for  its 

vitality,   picturesqueness,  candor  and 

literary  quality.     Mr.  Milligan  saw  a 

lot  during  his  seven  African  years." 

— N.  Y.  Times. 


AMVAMA,  A  FANG  CATECHIST   (See  p.  316). 


The  Fetish  Folk  of 
West  Africa 


By 
ROBERT  H.  MILLIGAN 

Author  of  "The  Jungle  Folk  of  Africa" 


ILLUSTRATED 


I 


NEW  YORK    CHICAGO    TORONTO 

Fleming    H.    Re  veil    Company 

LONDON    AND      EDINBURGH 


Copyright,  1912,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  125  North  Wabash  Ave. 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  Street,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:  100  Princes  Street 


Preface 

IN  this  book  as  in  the  one  that  preceded  it,  The 
Jungle  Folk  of  Africa,  the  author  endeavours  to  ex- 
hibit the  humanity  of  the  African  as  it  impressed 
himself. 

The  difference  between  the  two  books  is  chiefly  a  dif- 
ference of  emphasis,  and  is  indicated  in  the  titles.  In  the 
former  the  African  is  described  in  relation  to  his  sur- 
roundings— his  exterior  world.  Much  is  said  about  the 
forest — deep,  solemn,  vast,  impenetrably  mysterious — 
wherein  he  roams  at  large  with  nature's  own  wild  free- 
dom ;  contending  also  with  its  mighty  forces,  and  wrest- 
ing from  it  the  means  of  existence  by  his  own  resource- 
fulness of  expedient.  In  the  present  volume  the  author 
essays  the  more  difficult  task  of  revealing  the  interior 
world  of  the  African — his  mental  habits  and  beliefs. 
Much  is  said  about  fetishism  and.  folk-lore. 

If,  despite  all  that  is  said  herein,  the  philosophy  of 
fetishism  should  remain  obscure — and  there  is  no  doubt 
of  it ;  if  the  reader  should  close  this  book  with  the  con- 
sciousness of  a  broad,  comprehensive  ignorance  of  the  sub- 
ject, it  may  be  to  some  extent  the  fault  of  fetishism  itself, 
which  is  the  jungle  of  jungles,  an  aggregation  of  incoherent 
beliefs.  The  world  of  the  African  is  as  wild  and  strange 
as  the  weird  world  that  we  often  visit  on  the  brink  of 
sleep.  It  was  far  from  Africa  that  Siegfried  thought  it 
worth  while  to  encounter  the  dread  dragon,  Fafner,  and 
slay  him  for  the  possession  of  the  magic  tarnhelm  forged 
by  the  Nibelung.  In  Africa  everybody  has  a  tarnhelm. 

5 


2061448 


6  PEEFACE 

Second-hand  tarnhelms  are  for  sale  everywhere.  I  my- 
self had  a  rare  one  ;  but  I  have  lost  it,  or  mislaid  it.  To 
us,  who  think  of  nature  as  the  realm  of  law,  order,  and 
uniformity,  the  world  of  the  African  seems  to  have  gone 
mad.  This  madness,  however,  is  more  apparent  than 
real.  The  African  thinks  in  terms  of  the  miraculous ; 
natural  effects  are  explained  by  supernatural  causes; 
supernatural,  but  not  therefore  unintelligible,  still  less 
irrational.  Therefore,  if  we  should  not  find  the  fabled 
thread  out  of  this  amazing  labyrinth  of  fetishism,  it  may 
be  possible  to  find  a  thread  into  it ;  and  not  only  possible, 
but  also  worth  while,  if  within  the  labyrinth  we  shall  find 
the  African  himself  and  come  to  know  him,  mind  and 
heart,  a  little  better. 

One  need  not  apologize  for  the  space  given  to  folk-lore 
so  long  as  Brer  Eabbit  and  Brer  Fox  retain  their  present 
popularity  with  old  and  young  ;  for  in  African  folk-lore 
we  have  the  originals  of  the  stories  of  Uncle  Kemus. 
Aside  from  the  entertaining  quality  of  folk-lore,  its  ideal- 
ism has  a  human  value.  In  Mr.  Lecky's  essay, 
Thoughts  on  History,  published  since  his  death,  the 
great  historian  pays  the  following  remarkable  tribute  to 
idealism : 

"  Legends  which  have  no  firm  historical  basis  areoften 
of  the  highest  historical  value  as  reflecting  the  moral 
sentiments  of  their  time.  Nor  do  they  merely  reflect 
them.  In  some  periods  they  contribute  perhaps  more 
than  any  other  influence  to  mould  and  colour  them  and  to 
give  them  an  enduring  strength.  The  facts  of  history  have 
been  largely  governed  by  its  fiction.  Great  events  often 
acquire  their  full  power  over  the  human  mind  only  when 
they  have  passed  through  the  transfiguring  medium  of 
the  imagination,  and  men  as  they  were  supposed  to  be 
have  even  sometimes  exercised  a  wider  influence  than 
men  as  they  actually  were.  Ideals  ultimately  rule  the 


PREFACE  7 

world  ;  and  each,  before  it  loses  its  ascendency,  bequeaths 
some  moral  truth  as  an  abiding  legacy  to  the  human 
race." 

Inasmuch  as  the  history  of  most  African  tribes  must 
ever  remain  unknown  to  us,  their  legends  and  all  that  is 
included  in  their  folk-lore  possess  additional  anthropo- 
logical value  as  a  medium  through  which  to  study  the 
African  mind. 

The  African,  despite  his  degradation,  is  interesting ; 
and  that,  not  merely  as  an  object  of  religious  endeavour, 
but  on  the  human  level,  as  a  man.  The  testimony  of 
Mr.  Herbert  Ward — traveller,  adventurer,  soldier  and 
artist — who  first  went  to  Africa  with  Stanley,  and  after- 
wards went  a  second  time  and  spent  several  years,  is  the 
testimony  of  all  sound-hearted  men  who  have  lived  in 
Africa.  Mr.  Ward,  in  A  Voice  From  the  Congo,  says: 

"  There  was  a  good  side  even  to  the  most  villainous- 
looking  savage.  .  .  .  They  appealed  strongly  to  me 
by  reason  of  their  simplicity  and  directness,  their  lack  of 
scheming  or  plotting,  and  by  the  spontaneity  of  every- 
thing they  did."  And  again  :  "  It  has  been  my  experi- 
ence that  the  longer  one  lives  with  Africans,  the  more 
one  grows  to  love  them.  Prejudices  soon  vanish.  The 
black  skin  loses  something  of  its  unpleasant  characteris- 
tics, for  one  knows  that  it  covers  such  a  very  human 
heart." 

Nevertheless,  the  degradation  of  the  African  is  a  fact. 
And  it  is  being  proved  that  there  is  no  power  of  moral 
renovation  for  him  inherent  in  material  progress.  Chris- 
tianity, and  nothing  else,  vitalizes  his  moral  nature  ;  and 
therefore  it  contains  the  potentialities  of  civilization. 
When  Mr.  Giddings,  and  other  sociologists  of  a  certain 
class,  ignoring  spiritual  values,  demand  a  gospel  for  the 
life  that  now  is,  we  offer  them  the  same  Gospel  of  Christ, 
and  point  to  its  actual  results  in  Africa  ;  maintaining  that 


8  PKEFACE 

the  missionary  is  the  chief  agent  in  Africa's  civilization, 
and  affirming  that  civilization  is  but  the  secular  side  of 
Christianity. 

One  of  the  stories  in  this  volume  appears  also  in 
Dr.  Robert  H.  Nassau's  admirable  book,  Fetishism  in 
West  Africa  ;  and  two  of  the  stories  are  told,  in  slightly 
different  form,  in  Mr.  E.  E.  Dennett's  interesting  book  on 
the  folk-lore  of  the  Fjort.  Most  of  the  illustrations  are 
from  photographs  taken  by  Mr.  Harry  D.  Salveter. 

EGBERT  H.  MILLIGAN. 
New  York. 


Contents 


I 

THE  WHITE  MAN'S  GRAVE 15 

The  Coast — The  Old  Coaster — His  obsession — Angom — 
Loneliness — Gaboon — The  seasons — Ice  that  burned — A 
peculiar  climate — The  mosquito— Quinine — Frightened  into 
fever — A  matter  of  coffins. 

II 

"  THE  WISE  ONES  "  .29 

From  palm-oil  to  trousers — Mpongwe  and  Fang — Making  a 
king — Caste — Domestic  slavery — Ndinga,  a  human  leopard 
— A  Gaboon  belle — Native  courtesy — A  fight — A  war-cus- 
tom— The  cause  of  the  tide — A  dying  confession — A  case  of 
witchcraft — Curing  the  sick — A  secret  society. 

Ill 

A  DYING  TRIBE 42 

Women  who  cannot  marry — The  slave-trade — The  rum-traffic 
— Elida — Augustus — Trade  and  polygamy — Too  proud  to 
speak — Destruction  of  authority — Customs  not  irrational — 
The  dowry — The  foreign  governments — The  whipping-post 
—A  fatal  defect 

IV 

A  LIVING  REMNANT 56 

A  difficult  work — The  Jesuits — Iguwi — Single  blessedness — 
A  chicken  breakfast — Buttons — A  remarkable  illustration — 
A  service  —  Fluency  —  Toko  Truman — Izuri — Ntyango — 
Sara — Lucina — Uncle  Remus — The  Tortoise  and  his  Cred- 
itors—  The  Wag — A  battle  in  canoes — A  captive  father — 
A  graveyard. 

V 

AFRICAN  Music 72 

A  taste  for  comic  opera — An  organ  and  an  organist — The 
origin  of  music — Musical  instruments — The  sense  of  melody 
— A  decomposed  tune — Unfamiliar  scales  —  Mourning  — 
Rhythm — Extremely  musical — Three  songs. 

9 


10  CONTENTS 

VI 
PESTS 85 

The  Ten  Plagues — Killing  flies— The  driver  ant — Other  ants 
— The  jigger — The  sandfly — The  mosquito — The  centipede 
— The  cockroach — The  white  ant— Divers  other  pests — In- 
ternal parasites — Rats — Snakes. 


VII 

THE  "CANNIBAL"  FANG no 

A  discriminating  palate — Not  the  worst  cannibals — Appear- 
ance— The  Negro  face  and  the  Greek  face — Legs — The 
wheel — Dress — An  overdressed  woman — Food — Cannibal- 
ism— An  affair  of  honour — Native  art — Curiosity — Turning 
them  into  monkeys. 


VIII 

MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS  . 125 

The  native  resourceful  —  Unambitious — Trade — Communism 
— Boiling  the  Bible — A  quarrel — Marriage — The  dowry — 
A  case  of  torture — The  head-wife — The  tongue  a  woman's 
weapon  —  Polygamy —  Ogula  and  her  Ngalo —  Tragedy — 
Dancing — The  story-teller — An  interesting  liar. 


IX 

FUNERAL  CUSTOMS          .   .    >        .        .        .        .145 

A  talking  corpse — A  world  of  magic — Sympathy  and  expec- 
toration— The  dirge — Premature  burial — A  funeral  incident 
— Death  customs — Conventional  mourning — An  incident  of 
the  grass-field — A  horrible  burial  custom — Two  death-scenes, 
a  contrast. 


THE  "  DOROTHY  ".        .        .        .        .        .        .158 

A  godsend — A  gasoline  palaver — Canoeing — The  rapids — A 
pilot — A  sudden  stop — Passengers — The  mangrove  swamp 
— A  wheelman  and  a  bottle — Pirates — Towing  a  town — 
Nkogo — Ndutuma — Ndong  Bisia — A  saucepan  and  a  ball  of 
twine. 


CONTENTS  11 

XI 
SCHOOLBOYS 179 

Lolo — Unwashed — Washed — A  flying  bucket — A  little  friend 
— The  blessed  Melchisedec — A  parting — Ko-ko-ko-ko — The 
centre  of  a  fight — The  poetry  of  soap — A  threat  of  suicide 
— The  eloquence  of  sounding  brass — A  "  rotten  road" — 
Savages  as  soldiers — Ngema's  father — Across  our  bow — A 
tornado. 

XII 
A  SCHOOL :        .     198 

Mendam,  the  big  brother — Clothing — A  day's  program — Cut- 
ting grass — A  python — Rations — A  collapse — The  dormitory 
— The  dispensary — The  jigger- palaver — Not  stupid — A 
head  that  got  hit — Singing — Interruptions — A  picnic — 
Games — War-dances — Stories — A  Tug  of  War — A  Race 
— The  Leopard  and  the  Antelope — An  evangelistic  force. 

XIII 

THE  MENTAL  DEGRADATION  OF  FETISHISM       .        .219 

The  horseshoe — The  charm — The  fetish — The  relic — The 
fetish-doctor — A  psychological  consequence — The  African 
idea  of  nature — Incredible  beliefs — Confession  of  a  chiefs 
son — Two  babes — The  idea  of  God — The  mental  atmosphere 
— Making  the  rainbow — A  problem — First  lessons — Why 
the  river  is  crooked — An  old  woman's  illustration. 

XIV 

THE  MORAL  DEGRADATION  OF  FETISHISM        .        .233 

A  lost  child — Worship  of  snakes — Demoralizing  factors — A 
chief's  fetish  —  Ingredients — Human  sacrifice — A  royal 
death — Wives  and  witchcraft — Concluding  a  war — Destiny 
— Man's  nature — New  conceptions — A  revolt  from  cannibal- 
ism— Heaps  of  skulls — Deliverance. 

XV 

FETISHISM  AND  THE  CROSS      .....     246 

A  precocious  boy — Killed  his  friend — Essentially  moral — Cure 
for  lying — The  ordeal — A  trial  and  death — The  sense  of 
guilt — Expiatory  rites — The  new  ideal — The  atonement — 
Self-sacrifice  and  self-assertion — Ndong  Koni  builds  a  church 
— Onjoga  cuts  grass — Makuba's  rheumatism — What  is  a 
missionary  ? — Onjoga's  wife — Children  at  play. 


12  CONTENTS 

XVI 

MISSIONS  AND  SOCIAL  PROGRESS      .        .  .     264 

The  noble  savage — Story  of  a  feud — Society  and  the  indi- 
vidual— Progressive  and  unprogressive — Interdependence 
— Conquest  of  nature — Education — Authority  of  custom — 
Work — Trustworthiness — A  civilizing  experiment — A  com- 
munion-service— Equality  of  woman — A  salutation — Attitude 
towards  nature — A  thirst  for  knowledge — Service — Legiti- 
macy in  government — The  home — Thy  kingdom  come. 

XVII 

THE  CRITICS  .        .        .        .        .  ,        .    286 

The  missionary  blamed  for  everything — Bewildering  incon- 
sistency— Professor  Starr — Misfits — Criticism  unjust — Un- 
belief— Antipathy  towards  the  native — Cruelty — Vice — Low- 
ering of  ideals — Missions  sociologically  sound — The  let-alone 
policy  too  late — Miss  Kingsley. 

XVIII 

SAINTS  AMONG  SavAGES         •        .        .        .        .310 

The  best  apologetic  —  Mb'Obam  —  Sara  —  A  matrimonial 
bureau  —  Angona  —  A  pot-palaver — A  narrow  escape — 
Amvama  —  A  clean  knife — A  bet — Proving  himself — A 
dowry-palaver — Opposing  a  chief— Robert  Boardman — Son 
of  a  "  prince  " — Blindness — Incident  of  a  pipe — His  love  of 
music — His  wife — A  near-elopement — Walking  in  the  light. 


Illustrations 

AMVAMA,  A  FANG  CATECHIST         .        .        Frontispiece 

Facing  page 

MISSION  HOUSE  AT  BARAKA 22 

WOMEN'S  SECRET  SOCIETY 41 

TRADING  HOUSE  AT  GABOON 54 

AN  MPONGWE  WEDDING 65 

A  FANG  FAMILY no 

FANG  TRADERS  WITH  IVORY 128 

THE  DOROTHY 158 

CREW  OF  THE  DOROTHY 171 

THE  PRIMARY  CLASS 179 

A  LITTLE  SCHOLAR 187 

THE  DAILY  CLINIC 187 

SCHOOLHOUSE  AND  DORMITORY  AT  GABOON     .        .  2O5 

SEVERAL  STRIDES  TOWARDS  CIVILIZATION        .        .  264 
A  FASHIONABLE  WEDDING  IN  KAMERUN           .        .283 

ANYOROGULI 306 

RETURNING  FROM  THE  GARDENS      ....  306 
FANG  CHRISTIANS  .        .        .        .        ;        ;        .323 


18 


THE  WHITE  MAN'S  GRAVE 

FOE  that  matter  the  whole  west  coast  of  Africa  is 
called  by  the  natives  The  White  Man's  Grave; 
and  everywhere  the  fever  stalks  along  the  beach 
like  a  grim  sentinel  warning  the  stranger  to  stay  away 
and  ready  to  beat  him  into  delirium  and  death  if  he 
lands.  But  the  name,  The  White  Man's  Grave,  is  espe- 
cially attached  to  several  of  the  oldest  of  the  coast  settle- 
ments. Notable  among  these  is  Gaboon,  in  the  French 
Congo,  almost  exactly  at  the  equator,  where  I  lived  for 
nearly  six  years,  the  period  of  my  second  term  in  Africa. 
On  the  long  voyage  of  five  weeks  from  Liverpool  to 
Libreville  I  had  been  duly  prepared  for  the  worst  by  the 
Old  Coasters  on  board,  who  deem  it  their  duty  to  in- 
struct all  newcomers  in  regard  to  the  evils  of  the  climate 
and  the  certainty  of  an  early  death.  This  duty  consti- 
tutes a  daily  exercise  during  the  entire  voyage  and  is 
discharged  faithfully  and  conscientiously.  Each  morn- 
ing at  the  breakfast-table  the  young  missionary  is  told 
that  the  African  fever  is  inevitable,  and  to  expect  it  will 
bring  it  on  in  two  days.  The  healthy  die  first.  "Mis- 
sionaries die  like  flies."  The  abnormal  mortality  among 
missionaries  is  due  to  several  persistent  delusions  ;  chief 
among  them,  the  temperance  delusion,  and  the  quinine 
delusion.  According  to  the  Old  Coaster,  everybody 
whose  mind  is  open  to  conviction  knows  that  temperate 
habits  are  no  defense  and  that  total  abstinence  is  a  quick 
method  of  suicide.  Quinine  only  aggravates  the  fever  ; 
everybody  knows  that  also  ;  but  missionaries  will  not 

15 


16      THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF^WEST  AFRICA 

admit  it  Then  there  is  the  minor  delusion  of  the  um- 
brella. All  those  people  who  regularly  carried  umbrellas 
are  dead.  Those  who  didn't  carry  them  are  dead  too, 
but  they  lived  longer. 

The  dreadful  racking  pain  of  the  fever  is  adequately 
described,  and  then  there  is  added  the  consoling  thought 
that  a  man  may  sometimes  escape  having  it  fatally  by 
having  it  frequently.  " Fatally,  or  frequently:"  the 
poets  among  them  dwell  fondly  on  the  alliteration. 

After  we  have  begun  to  call  at  the  African  ports  this 
elementary  instruction  is  reinforced  by  a  circumstantial 
and  realistic  account  of  the  death  of  the  "  poor  chaps" 
who  have  "pegged  out"  since  the  last  voyage.  The 
number  is  large :  I  did  not  know  there  were  so  many 
white  men  on  the  coast.  Many  among  them  were  of  my 
particular  build,  complexion  and  general  appearance — I 
was  told. 

It  is  not  that  the  Old  Coaster  is  indulging  a  barbarous 
sense  of  humour  in  trying  to  frighten  the  newcomer,  but 
he  has  become  fairly  obsessed  with  the  thought  of  the 
climate.  Sooner  or  later  this  morbid  distemper  seizes 
upon  most  of  those  who  live  for  any  length  of  time  in 
"West  Africa. 

After  such  an  unappetizing  conversation  at  the  break- 
fast-table, a  certain  young  missionary  escaped  to  the 
upper  deck  where  he  was  soon  joined  by  an  Old  Coaster 
who  asked  him  if  he  happened  to  have  a  prayer-book. 
Delighted  that  the  conversation  had  taken  a  turn  (and 
such  a  good  turn)  he  replied  that  he  hadn't  a  prayer- 
book,  not  being  an  Anglican,  but  that  he  might  procure 
one  from  a  fellow  passenger. 

"I'd  be  ever  so  much  obliged,"  says  the  Old  Coaster, 
"  if  you  would ;  for  I  want  to  write  down  the  burial 
service.  You  see,  no  matter  how  a  man  may  have  lived, 
it's  a  comfort  to  him  out  here  on  the  coast  to  think  that 


THE  WHITE  MAN'S  GRAVE  17 

he'll  have  a  decent  burial ;  so  we're  neighbourly,  and  we 
read  the  service  for  one  another. " 

In  one  last  desperate  effort  to  turn  the  conversation 
from  the  dead  to  the  living,  the  missionary  remarked, 
with  considerable  force:  "But  people  don't  all  die  of 
fever  out  here  !  What  about  those  that  don't  ?  " 

11  Oh,  no,"  he  replies ;  "they  die  of  many  other  things 
besides  fever.  Let's  see  ;  " — and  he  counts  them  off  on 
his  fingers : 

"There's  kraw-kraw.  Kraw-kraw  is  an  awful  nasty 
disease  that  just  decomposes  a  man's  legs  and  nothing 
can  stop  it. 

"There's  dysentery.  A  lot  of  people  die  of  that. 
There's  every  kind  of  tuberculosis.  There's  abscesses. 
There's  pneumonia.  There's  ulcers " 

"And  kraw-kraw,"  says  another  Old  Coaster,  coming 
up  behind  him.  "  Why,  there  was  my  friend  So-and- 
so " 

"I've  already  said  kraw-kraw,"  says  the  other,  and 
he  passes  on  to  the  next  finger. 

' '  There's  Portuguese  itch.  Maybe  you  think  you  know 
what  itch  is,  but  you  don't  if  you've  never  had  the  Por- 
tuguese itch  of  the  coast. 

"  There's  the  Guinea  worm.  It  favours  the  leg  and  is 
sometimes  ten  feet  long.  You  may  possibly  get  it  out  if 
you  don't  try  to  wind  it  from  the  tail ;  but  anyway  it 
leaves  a  wound  that  doesn't  heal  in  this  climate. 

' '  There' s  enlarged  spleen.     There' s ' ' 

"Kraw-kraw,"  says  another  arrival.  "Why,  there 
was  So-and-so " 

"I  said  kraw-kraw,"  answers  the  leader. 

"There's  smallpox — in  frequent  epidemics,"  he  con- 
tinues. 

"  And  there  are  so  many  other  parasites  feeding  on  a 
man,  inside  and  out,  that  one  who  has  lived  on  this  coast 


18     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

for  several  years  ought  to  be  able  to  furnish  in  his  own 
body  a  complete  course  for  a  class  of  medical  students." 

"  Did  you  mention  kraw-kraw  ?  "  says  a  late  arrival. 

"Kraw-kraw?"  interposed  the  missionary.  UI  know 
all  about  kraw-kraw.  The  highest  authorities  on  tropical 
diseases  have  declared  that  it  is  not  a  physical,  but  a 
mental,  malady  that  attacks  the  Old  Coaster.  The 
victim  imagines  that  he  is  an  old  crow,  and  he  goes 
around  flapping  his  wings  and  crying,  l  Kraw-kraw.'  " 

One  morning  at  the  breakfast-table,  when  the  conversa- 
tion turned  for  a  moment  to  the  cheerful  subject  of  cock- 
tails, a  youngster  exclaimed  :  "Gentlemen,  gentlemen,  I 
protest  against  this  cheerfulness.  For  a  whole  minute 
the  conversation  has  been  utterly  irrelevant.  Men  are 
mortal  and  the  dead  are  accumulating.  Let  us  therefore 
return  to  the  obsequies." 

A  solemn-eyed  Old  Coaster  leaned  towards  his  neigh- 
bour and  in  a  loud,  sepulchral  whisper  remarked:  "I 
give  Mm  a  month." 

"I  give  him  two  weeks,"  replied  the  other. 

Many  of  those  who  came  aboard,  especially  those  from 
the  more  lonely  places,  looked  like  haunted  men.  Ex- 
treme isolation  invites  madness.  There  were  moments 
when  the  heart  of  the  traveller  faltered  or  stood  still, 
almost  crushed  by  the  pathos  and  tragedy  of  it  all. 

At  the  annual  mission-meeting  I  was  appointed  not  to 
Gaboon,  but  to  Angom,  seventy  miles  up  the  Gaboon 
Eiver.  Angom  had  a  peculiarly  evil  reputation  even  in 
Africa,  and  the  appointment  was  made  only  after  a  pro- 
longed discussion  in  which  some  contended  that  the  place 
ought  to  be  abandoned  and  the  climate  of  that  particular 
station  pronounced  impossible.  The  facts  arrayed  in  sup- 
port of  this  opinion  presented  such  a  gloomy  outlook  that 
when,  in  conclusion,  a  missionary  physician  and  his  wife 
and  myself  were  assigned  to  Angom,  the  appointment 


THE  WHITE  MAN'S  GRAVE  19 

sounded  in  our  ears  somewhat  like  an  order  for  our 
execution. 

Three  weeks  after  we  reached  Angom  I  stood  one 
morning  on  the  bank  of  the  river,  exceedingly  lonely  as 
I  gazed  after  the  boat  that  bore  away  the  physician  and 
his  wife,  both  of  them  sick  and  returning  to  the  United 
States.  I  remained  alone  at  Angom  only  a  few  months, 
but  I  was  expecting  to  remain  for  the  entire  year,  sixty 
miles  from  the  nearest  white  man,  and  unable  as  yet  to 
speak  the  language  of  the  jungle  folk  around  me.  And 
besides  the  barrier  of  an  unknown  language  between 
them  and  me,  there  was  at  first  such  a  mental  and  moral 
aloofness  from  the  natives  that  their  presence,  and  espe- 
cially the  sound  of  their  constant  laughter,  only  drove 
me  to  the  centre  of  a  vaster  solitude. 

Often  in  those  first  days  I  fought  against  loneliness  and 
fever  together,  each  aggravating  the  other.  When  lone- 
liness would  make  its  most  terrible  onslaught  it  assumed 
a  disguise — and  invariably  the  same  disguise.  More  than 
half  the  battle  was  fought  when  I  had  penetrated  the  dis- 
guise and  learned  to  recognize  the  foe  even  from  afar. 
It  invariably  approached  in  the  form  of  discouragement 
— the  intolerable  feeling  that  all  I  was  doing  was  useless  ; 
that  I  was  the  fool  of  a  pathetic  delusion  whose  only  re- 
deeming feature  was  a  good  intention.  The  doubt  sud- 
denly emptied  life  of  all  that  was  worth  while  and  left  an 
aching  void ;  and  nothing  in  the  whole  world  can  ache 
like  a  void.  In  our  nobler  aims  and  enthusiasms  doubt 
is  the  worst  foe  of  courage — the  thought  that  one  may  be 
making  a  fool  of  himself ;  the  highest  courage  is  to  resist 
the  doubt,  and  the  highest  wisdom  is  to  know  when  to 
resist  it.  I  think  Hawthorne  said  something  like  that. 

Let  me  anticipate  the  years  so  far  as  to  say  that, 
although  I  was  always  more  or  less  alone  in  Africa,  and 
drank  the  cup  of  solitude  to  the  dregs,  I  completely  out- 


20      THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFEICA 

lived  these  attacks.  And,  strange  enough,  the  very 
question  which  had  been  my  dreaded  foe  became  my 
strongest  ally  and  defense,  namely,  the  question,  Is  it 
worth  while?  For  I  fought  that  question  out  to  a  sure 
affirmative.  In  later  years  the  dominant  feeling,  that 
which  constituted  the  irresistible  attraction  of  missionary 
life,  and  made  its  privations  as  nothing,  was  the  constant 
feeling  that  life  in  Africa  was  infinitely  worth  while,  and 
that  nowhere  else  in  the  world  could  my  life  count  for  so 
much  to  so  many. 

The  first  letters  from  missionaries  at  the  coast  advised 
that  I  should  not  think  of  staying  alone  at  Augom,  but 
should  move  to  the  coast  and  join  them  at  Baraka,  our 
Gaboon  station.  This  did  not  seem  to  me  advisable, 
since  it  would  separate  me  from  the  interior  tribe,  the 
wild  Fang,  among  whom  I  was  expecting  to  work  and 
whose  language  I  was  learning.  The  coast  tribe,  the 
Mpongwe,  were  already  provided  for  and  did  not  need 
me.  But  as  time  passed  letters  came  from  all  over  the 
mission  making  so  strong  a  protest  that  it  seemed  inad- 
visable to  "insist  upon  being  a  martyr" — as  my  fellow 
missionaries  expressed  it,  with  nai've  candour.  One  friend 
added  that  if  I  died,  or  rather  when  I  died,  I  would  have 
no  one  to  blame  for  it  but  myself.  That  settled  it.  The 
idea  of  dying  with  no  one  to  blame  for  it,  after  the  lonely 
life  at  Angom,  was  entirely  too  unsensational ;  so  I  moved 
to  Baraka,  where  some  one  could  be  blamed  when  I  died. 

The  name  Gaboon  is  used,  especially  by  the  English,  in 
a  general  way  to  designate  not  only  the  river  of  that  name 
but  all  the  adjacent  territory.  Most  people  prefer  it  to 
the  name  Libreville,  because  it  is  of  native  origin ;  and 
they  like  the  far-away  sound  of  it.  If  we  would  be  strictly 
accurate,  however,  the  name  belongs  only  to  the  great 
estuary  of  the  river.  The  Gaboon  Eiver  is  not  long,  but 
it  receives  many  tributaries  and  for  the  last  hundred 


THE  WHITE  MAN'S  GRAVE  21 

miles  from  the  sea  it  is  magnificent.  Forty  miles  before 
it  reaches  the  sea  it  bends  northward  by  northwest  and 
widens  out  into  a  broad  estuary  from  five  to  fifteen  miles 
in  width  and  forty  miles  long,  which  I  have  always  called 
the  bay.  It  is  one  of  the  few,  and  one  of  the  best,  har- 
bours on  the  entire  coast  of  Africa.  Libreville,  the  old 
French  capital  of  the  Congo  Frauyais,  and  Baraka,  our 
mission  station,  are  situated  on  the  east  bank  of  the  estu- 
ary and  opposite  its  broad  mouth.  They  look  therefore 
directly  over  the  sea. 

Gaboon  was  known  in  the  Middle  Ages  and  probably 
in  the  early  centuries.  Travellers  and  adventurers  of  a 
superstitious  age,  passing  upon  the  high  seas,  reported 
that  it  was  a  dreadful  land  where  at  night  strange  fires 
bursting  from  the  earth  leaped  to  the  clouds  and  reddened 
the  sky,  fires  which  probably  came  from  "inferno"  not 
far  beneath.  It  is  quite  possible  that  the  fire  which  they 
saw  may  have  issued  from  Mount  Kamerun,  farther  to 
the  north,  which  is  now  an  extinct  volcano  ;  but  there  is 
a  more  likely  explanation.  The  country  around  Gaboon 
is  more  open  than  most  parts  of  West  Africa.  A  dense 
undergrowth  of  shrubbery  and  long  grass  grows  up  each 
year,  which  towards  the  end  of  the  dry  season  is  burned 
off  by  the  natives,  in  some  places  to  clear  their  gardens, 
and  in  some  places  for  the  fun  of  seeing  it  burn.  As 
seen  from  the  mission  hill  the  fires  are  seldom  extensive, 
though  the  effect  is  a  ruddy  glow  upon  the  clouds  and  is 
beautiful.  But  as  I  have  seen  them  when  out  upon  the 
bay  at  night,  and  upon  the  sea,  the  effect  of  their  full 
extent,  the  glowing  sky  and  its  reflection  in  the  sea,  were 
sufficient  to  inspire  awe  and  impress  deeply  the  supersti- 
tious mind  of  a  sailor  gazing  on  a  strange  land  of  savage 
people. 

Libreville  as  it  is  approached  from  the  sea  is  one  of  the 
most  beautiful  places  on  the  entire  West  Coast  The  gov- 


22     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

eminent  buildings  stand  upon  a  hill,  the  Plateau,  from 
which  a  handsome  boulevard  runs  to  the  south  parallel 
with  the  beach,  between  rows  of  giant  coco-palms.  On 
this  boulevard  are  the  trading-houses,  French,  Portu- 
guese, German  and  English.  The  buildings  are  nearly 
all  white,  including  the  iron  roofs  ;  but  some  of  them  have 
roofs  of  red  tile.  There  are  many  beautiful  trees.  The 
houses  are  only  half  visible  through  screens  of  foliage ; 
and  along  the  walks  every  unsightly  thing,  every  deserted 
building  or  decaying  hut  is  overgrown  with  vines  of  deli- 
cate beauty  and  the  wildest  profusion  of  scarlet,  purple 
and  lavender  flowers. 

The  beach  is  strewn  with  logs  of  African  mahogany  of 
great  value,  which  the  traders  are  preparing  to  ship. 
For  these  they  have  exchanged  a  variety  of  goods.  They 
carry  a  large  stock  of  flint-lock  guns  especially  for  the  in- 
terior trade.  The  average  price  of  a  trade-gun  is  five 
dollars.  They  are  called  " gas-pipe"  guns  in  the  ver- 
nacular of  the  coast.  The  barrel  is  three  feet  four  inches 
long,  and  the  bore  Mr.  Eichard  Harding  Davis  com- 
pares to  an  artesian  well.  "The  native  fills  four  inches 
of  this  cavity  with  powder  and  the  remaining  three  feet 
with  rusty  nails,  barbed  wire,  leaden  slugs,  and  broken 
parts  of  iron  pots."  This  dreadful  weapon  "kicks"  so 
violently  in  the  recoil  that  it  is  always  a  question  as  to 
which  is  the  more  dangerous  end.  Of  course,  if  the  con- 
tents of  the  barrel  should  actually  enter  a  man's  body  it 
would  tear  him  all  to  pieces.  But  there  is  always  a 
doubt  about  the  aim,  and  there  is  no  doubt  about  the 
kick. 

Two  miles  south  of  the  Plateau  there  is  another  hill 
nearly  as  high,  and  having  the  finest  outlook  towards 
the  sea.  On  this  hill  is  the  mission  station,  Baraka. 

The  house,  as  one  approaches  it,  appears  through  a 
screen  of  palms  and  orange-trees,  of  the  strong-scented 


THE  WHITE  MAN'S  GRAVE  23 

frangipani,  the  scarlet  hibiscus,  and  oleander  growing 
as  high  as  the  house.  There  is  an  abundance  of  roses 
everywhere.  There  are  also  a  few  coffee-trees  in  the 
yard,  aud  one  exquisite  cinnamon. 

The  view  from  the  veranda  of  the  mission  house  at 
Baraka  is  a  scene  of  magic  beauty.  The  joyous  lavish- 
ness  of  colour  excludes  from  the  mind  the  thought  of  the 
deadly  serpent  and  the  relentless  fever-fiend  that  stealthily 
glide  within  the  shadows.  The  long  hillside  sloping  to 
the  beach  is  half  covered  with  mangoes  and  palms, 
oleander  and  orange-trees,  and  the  graceful  plumes  of  the 
bamboo  that  wave  to  and  fro  and  tumble  in  the  breeze 
like  children  at  play.  In  front  is  the  open  sea.  On  the 
left,  looking  up  the  estuary,  one  sees  in  the  bright  morn- 
ing light  a  faiiy  island  of  deep  emerald  set  in  a  silver  sea, 
and  beyond  it  a  distant  shore  in  dim  purple  and  gold. 
Aud  even  while  one  is  looking,  the  island,  the  silver  sea 
and  the  golden-purple  shore  gradually  dissolve  and  dis- 
appear in  the  haze  that  gathers  and  deepens  as  the  day 
advances.  But  again,  and  always,  it  appears  in  the  clear 
evening  light,  more  beautiful  than  ever. 

I  found  it  impossible  to  persuade  my  friends  that 
Gaboon  is  not  the  hottest  place  in  the  world,  since  it  is 
not  only  in  Africa,  but  at  the  equator.  This  was  also 
my  own  idea  of  Gaboon  until  it  was  corrected  by  expe- 
rience. It  is  not  as  hot  at  the  equator  as  it  is  several 
hundred  miles  north  or  south  of  it.  The  thermometer 
ranges  between  72°  and  86°,  seldom  going  above  or  below 
this  range.  But  the  humidity  is  extreme  (not  surpassed, 
I  believe,  in  the  world)  and  this  makes  it  seem  hotter 
than  these  figures  would  indicate.  The  atmosphere  feels 
as  if  it  were  about  fifty  per  cent,  hot  water.  At  the 
coast  there  is  the  delightful  sea-breeze — but  as  soon  as 
one  says  it  is  "  delightful "  he  is  reminded  that  it  is  very 
dangerous. 


24     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

One  hears  from  the  natives  of  the  coast  more  com- 
plaints of  cold  than  of  heat  and  in  the  hottest  weather 
their  black  skin  is  always  cool.  The  hot  months  are  De- 
cember and  January  ;  and  the  coolest  are  June  and  July. 

The  wet  and  dry  seasons  of  Gaboon  are  very  distinct. 
The  dry  season  begins  in  May  and  lasts  for  four  months, 
during  all  which  time  there  is  not  a  shower.  Then  the 
wet  season  begins  in  September  and  lasts  four  months, 
during  which  it  rains  almost  incessantly.  This  is  fol- 
lowed by  a  short  dry  season  of  two  months  and  a  short 
wet  season  of  two  months,  thus  completing  the  year. 
This  succession  of  the  seasons  is  as  regular  and  distinct 
as  our  winter  and  summer.  The  effect  of  the  long  dry 
season  corresponds  in  some  respects  to  OUT  winter,  giving 
vegetation  a  rest.  Europeans  delight  in  the  dry  season, 
although  towards  the  last  they  long  for  the  rain.  But 
the  natives  dislike  the  dry  season,  which  is  too  cool  for 
their  comfort ;  and  since  the  land-breeze  is  very  strong, 
and  their  bodies  but  slightly  protected  with  clothing, 
there  is  much  sickness  among  them  in  these  months. 

I  never  told  the  Africans  about  ice,  nor  described  snow, 
lest  it  would  overtax  their  credulity  and  discredit  me ; 
for  if  they  should  doubt  I  had  no  way  of  proving  it. 
But  after  the  French  hospital  was  built  the  Gaboon  peo- 
ple not  only  heard  about  ice  but  many  of  them  actually 
saw  it.  One  day  we  obtained  a  piece  of  ice  at  Baraka, 
sufficient  to  make  ice-cream.  When  we  had  finished  eat- 
ing I  took  some  of  it  out  to  the  men  of  my  boat-crew  and 
after  telling  them  that  it  was  something  which  we  liked 
very  much,  I  gave  a  teaspoonful  to  Makuba,  the  captain. 
No  sooner  had  it  entered  his  mouth  than  he  leaped  into 
the  air  with  a  wild  yell — wild  even  for  Africa.  He 
shouted :  "I'm  killed !  I'm  burned  to  death !  I'm 
burned  to  death  !  " 

The  extremest  sensation  of  cold  seems  to  be  not  dis- 


THE  WHITE  MAN'S  GRAVE  25 

tinguishable  from  that  of  extreme  heat.  Never  having 
tasted  anything  cold,  it  is  positively  painful  to  them. 

Despite  the  exaggeration  of  the  Old  Coaster  we  are 
constantly  reminded  that,  after  all,  Gaboon  is  The  White 
Man's  Grave.  There  were  a  number  of  Anamese  prison- 
ers of  war  whom  the  French  had  transported  from  Anam. 
They  were  employed  in  the  construction  of  two  miles  of 
road  along  the  beach.  During  the  few  months  of  work 
seventy  out  of  one  hundred  died.  In  this  dreadful  death 
rate  there  were  probably  unusual  factors.  The  road 
crosses  a  marsh  that  is  a  first-class  incubator  for  mosqui- 
toes. And  besides,  it  is  not  likely  that  the  men  were 
reasonably  provided  with  food  or  medical  attendance. 

Even  upon  the  subject  of  the  climate  opinions  differ. 
There  are  some  persons — very  few — who,  after  living  in 
"West  Africa  a  number  of  years,  become  so  used  to  its 
death  record  that  they  seem  to  think  that  every  other 
place  is  just  the  same.  One  or  another  of  these  occa- 
sionally becomes  an  indignant  champion  of  the  climate. 
At  one  of  our  annual  mission  meetings  I  offered  a  reso- 
lution appealing  to  the  Board  of  Missions  in  New  York 
for  an  extra  allowance  for  health  changes,  in  view  of  the 
"hostile  climate."  A  veteran  missionary,  whose  many 
years  in  Africa  made  him  the  wonder  of  the  coast,  ob- 
jected to  the  word  hostile,  declaring  that  unless  it  were 
stricken  out  [he  would  vote  against  the  resolution.  But 
with  charming  inconsistency  he  added  that  he  fully  real- 
ized the  need  of  the  extra  allowance  and  he  would  gladly 
vote  for  it  if  only,  for  the  word  hostile,  we  would  substi- 
tute the  word  peculiar. 

Next  morning  after  breakfast,  Mr.  Gault,  in  whose 
home  I  was  staying,  said  to  me :  "  Apropos  of  the  ob- 
jection made  yesterday  to  the  word  hostile  as  applied  to 
this  salubrious  climate,  have  you  observed  that  every  one 
who  asks  a  blessing  at  the  breakfast-table  seems  to  be 


26     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

thankful — and  surprised — that  none  of  us  has  been 
stricken  down  during  the  night  and  that  we  are  all  again 
able  to  get  to  the  table  f 

"The  more  remarkable,"  he  added,  "  when  we  recall 
that  we  were  chosen  by  the  Board  not  because  we  were 
either  good  or  clever,  but  chiefly  because  of  our  consti- 
tutions." 

It  was  only  a  short  time  afterwards  that  Mr.  Gault 
himself  one  morning  was  not  able  to  get  to  the  breakfast- 
table.  Two  days  later  they  buried  him  at  Batanga.  He 
was  one  of  the  truest  and  best  men  I  have  ever  known. 

There  is  less  fever  now  than  there  was  a  few  years  ago, 
and  the  death  record  is  decreasing.  Not  that  the  condi- 
tions are  much  improved  ;  but  common  sense  has  pre- 
vailed, and  men  as  soon  as  they  become  seriously  ill 
hasten  away  on  the  first  steamer.  Besides,  the  proper 
use  of  quinine  as  a  preventive  is  better  understood  as 
the  result  of  the  knowledge  of  the  sources  of  malaria  and 
its  various  stages. 

The  mosquito  theory — that  the  Anopheles  mosquito  is 
the  carrying  agent  of  the  malaria  parasite — is  of  course 
generally  accepted.  The  late  Dr.  Koch  advised  that  a 
liberal  dose  of  quinine  every  eighth  or  ninth  day  ought  to 
be  an  effective  preventive  with  most  persons.  Major 
Eonald  Boss,  head  of  the  Liverpool  School  of  Tropical 
Medicine,  advised  the  destruction  of  the  mosquito,  chiefly 
by  drainage,  and  the  segregation  of  white  people  from 
the  natives.  The  natives  have  become  at  least  partially 
immune ;  but  there  are  numerous  malaria  parasites  in 
their  blood  constituting  the  source  from  which  it  is  car- 
ried by  the  mosquito,  which  after  biting  a  native  bites  a 
white  person  ;  and  when  the  white  man's  blood  is  mala- 
rious a  little  exposure  to  the  tropical  sun,  a  slight  chill, 
even  a  mental  shock  or  undue  strain,  anything  that 
lowers  the  vitality,  is  likely  to  precipitate  the  fever. 


THE  WHITE  MAN'S  GRAVE  27 

I  myself,  after  several  years  of  frequent  fever,  at  last 
gained  practical  immunity  by  taking  five  grains  of 
quinine  every  night,  which  I  did  without  omission  for 
three  years,  until  I  left  the  coast.  If  my  vitality  had 
not  been  already  reduced  to  the  minimum  I  would  not 
have  required  so  much  quinine.  Many  persons,  instead 
of  taking  quinine  regularly,  wait  until  the  fever  actually 
comes  and  then  take  very  large,  nerve-shattering  doses 
for  successive  days,  from  thirty  to  sixty  or  even  ninety 
grains  a  day.  One  may  recover  from  the  fever,  but  one 
does  not  entirely  recover  from  the  quinine  until  he  leaves 
the  coast. 

Sometimes  the  newcomer  is  fairly  frightened  into  a  fever 
by  those  who  have  lived  in  Africa  long  enough  to  have 
become  obsessed  with  the  thought  of  the  climate  and 
whose  conversation  it  completely  absorbs. 

Near  the  end  of  my  voyage  to  Africa  I  spent  a  night 
ashore  at  a  certain  mission,  where  a  good  lady  who  was 
in  a  very  sociable  mood,  having  shown  me  to  my  room, 
stood  in  the  doorway  telling  me  of  the  various  persons — 
not  a  few — who  had  died  in  that  particular  room,  and  giv- 
ing some  graphic  detail  of  each  death.  It  was  gradually 
borne  in  upon  me  that  there  must  be  some  horrible 
fatality  attached  to  that  room.  Finally  she  advised  me 

not  to  lock  my  door.  "  For,"  said  she,  "Mr.  P ,  who 

always  locked  his  bedroom  door,  was  found  dead  in  bed 
one  morning  in  this  very  room,  although  he  went  to  bed 
looking  as  well  as  you  do  now.  About  noon  next  day 
they  broke  the  door  open,  and  sure  enough  there  he  was 
— lying  right  there  !  " 

I  replied  :  "  My  dear  lady,  won't  you  please  knock  on 
my  door  very  early  in  the  morning,  and  if  I  do  not  an- 
swer, open  the  door  and  walk  in  ;  for  I  fully  expect  to 
be  dead." 

A  certain  American  lady,  who  was  a  missionary  for 


28      THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

some  years  in  Liberia,  tells  how  that  when  she  lauded, 
expecting  to  proceed  to  a  station  some  distance  inland, 
where  she  would  join  several  other  missionaries,  she  was 
met  with  the  news  that  the  missionaries  of  that  station 
(four,  I  believe)  had  all  died  of  fever  a  few  days  before 
she  landed,  one  immediately  after  another.  Nevertheless, 
the  person  who  had  the  authority  for  her  appointment 
escorted  her  to  that  desolate  station  and  left  her  there 
alone.  A  partition  of  boards  in  the  house  was  nearly  all 
gone  ;  it  was  only  a  few  feet  from  the  floor.  She  asked 
the  explanation  of  this  appearance  and  was  told  that  the 
boards  had  been  used  to  make  coffins.  Having  received 
this  interesting,  though  somewhat  curious  information, 
she  was  left  alone  to  find  what  comfort  she  could  in  the 
reflection  that  there  was  enough  of  the  partition  left  for 
one  more  coffin. 
She  told  me  about  it  herself— many  years  afterwards. 


n 

THE  WISE  ONES 

AT  Gaboon,  in  the  French  Congo,  one  sees  all  the 
successive  stages  in  the  process  of  civilization. 
First,  there  is  the  savage,  whose  whole  apparel 
is  a  little  palm-oil  and  a  bit  of  calico  half  the  size  of  a 
pocket-handkerchief ;  then  there  is  the  man  who  wears 
"two  fathoms"  of  cloth  wound  about  him  gracefully  and 
falling  below  his  knees  ;  next,  there  is  the  man  who  wears 
this  same  robe  with  a  shirt ;  then  the  man  who  discards 
the  native  robe  and  wears  a  shirt  and  trousers,  but  with 
the  shirt  always  outside  the  trousers  ;  and,  last  of  all,  the 
gentleman  who  wears  his  shirt  inside  his  trousers. 
These  several  classes  are  somewhat  distinct.  One  does 
not  classify  the  man  with  a  taste  for  simplicity  who 
wears  a  rice-sack  with  holes  for  his  head  and  arms  ;  nor 
the  untutored  dude  who  wears  a  pink  Mother  Hubbard 
or  a  lady's  undergarment.  These  freakish  modes  repre- 
sent attempts  to  hasten  the  process  of  civilization  and  to 
pass  prematurely  from  one  of  the  above  classes  to  another. 
In  general,  the  distinction  of  culotte  and  sansculotte 
indicates  the  difference  between  the  Mpongwe — the  old 
coast  tribe — and  the  Fang — the  interior  tribe,  who  have 
only  reached  the  coast  in  recent  years.  The  Mpongwe  is 
the  most  civilized  of  all  the  tribes  south  of  the  Calabar 
River.  Many  of  them,  besides  wearing  trousers,  live  in 
deck-houses^  that  is,  houses  with  wooden  floors.  The 
first  floor  ever  seen  by  the  natives  was  the  deck  of  an 
English  ship  ;  hence  the  name  deck-house.  It  was  also 

29 


30      THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

from  contact  with  English  sailors  that  the  native  learned 
to  speak  of  a  "  fathom  "  of  cloth. 

The  Mpongwe  are  the  proudest  people  of  West  Africa. 
An  African  woman  is  never  allowed  to  marry  into  an  in- 
ferior tribe ;  although  the  men  may  do  so.  And  since 
the  Mpongwe  have  no  social  equals  among  the  adjacent 
tribes,  it  follows  that  no  Mpougwe  woman  can  marry  out- 
side of  her  own  tribe,  unless  with  a  north -coast  man  or  a 
white  man.  The  Fang,  the  great  interior  tribe,  are  mere 
"  bush-animals"  in  the  mind  of  the  Mpougwe.  A  Fang 
man,  though  he  were  perfectly  civilized,  and  even  educated 
in  France,  would  not  be  allowed  the  social  status  of  the 
meanest  Mpongwe.  The  coast  women  can  all  speak 
Fang  ;  for  they  trade  with  them  and  buy  their  daily  food 
from  them ;  but  they  are  ashamed  to  be  heard  speaking  it. 
Often  when  I  addressed  them  in  Fang  they  would  shake 
their  heads  as  if  they  had  never  heard  the  language  be- 
fore ;  whereupon  I  nearly  always  asked  them  a  question 
on  some  matter  of  interest  to  themselves  ;  the  price  of  a 
parrot,  for  instance,  if  I  knew  that  the  lady  was  anxious 
to  sell  it.  Such  a  question  invariably  made  the  dumb 
to  speak. 

The  Mpongwe  call  themselves  The  Wise  Ones.  And 
other  tribes  generally  admit  their  claim  and  take  them  at 
their  own  self-estimate.  In  former  days,  when  they  had 
real  kings,  they  buried  their  kings  in  secret,  not  more 
than  ten  persons  knowing  the  hidden  grave,  lest  some 
other  tribe  might  steal  the  body,  for  the  sake  of  obtain- 
ing the  brains,  which  would  be  a  very  powerful  fetish  and 
would  make  them  wise  like  the  Mpongwe. 

The  king  was  chosen  from  among  the  people  by  the 
elders  and  was  selected  for  his  wisdom.  The  ceremonies 
of  his  enthronement  were  such  that  he  required  not  only 
wisdom,  but  also  courage,  physical  strength  and  a  superb 
digestion.  The  man's  first  intimation  that  he  had  been 


THE  WISE  ONES  31 

chosen  by  the  elders  was  an  onrush  of  the  people — not  to 
do  him  honour,  but  to  abuse  and  insult  him.  They 
would  hurl  opprobrious  epithets  at  him,  curse  him,  spit 
upon  him,  pelt  him  with  mud  and  beat  him.  For,  they 
said,  from  this  time  he  would  do  all  these  things  to  them, 
while  they  would  be  powerless  to  retaliate.  This,  there- 
fore, was  their  last  chance.  They  also  reminded  him  of 
all  his*  failings  in  graphic  and  minute  particulars.  If 
the  king  survived  this  treatment,  he  was  then  taken  to 
the  former  king's  house,  where  he  was  solemnly  invested 
with  the  insignia  of  the  kingly  office,  in  the  shape  of  a 
silk  hat.  No  one  but  the  king  was  permitted  to  wear  a 
silk  hat. 

Following  the  inauguration  ceremony,  the  people  came 
and  bowed  before  the  new  king  in  humble  submission, 
while  they  praised  him  as  enthusiastically  as  they  had  be- 
fore reviled  him.  Then  he  was  fed  and  feted  for  a  week, 
during  which  time  he  was  not  allowed  to  leave  his  house, 
but  was  required  to  receive  guests  from  all  parts  of  his 
dominion  and  eat  with  them  all.  These  ceremonies 
ended,  he  turned  to  the  comparatively  easy  and  common- 
place duties  of  his  kingly  office.  This  custom,  like  many 
others,  has  passed  away  under  the  influence  of  civilization. 

In  former  days  the  Mpongwe  were  divided  into  three 
distinct  classes.  There  were,  first,  the  slaves,  the  largest 
class  of  all.  Then  there  was  a  middle  class,  of  those  who 
although  free  were  of  slave  origin,  or  had  some  slave 
blood  in  their  veins — even  a  drop.  And  then  there  was 
a  very  small  aristocracy  of  pure  Mpongwe. 

Of  these  three  classes  the  middle  class  probably  had  the 
hardest  time.  They  had  freedom  enough  for  initiative 
and  trade  enterprise  and  they  often  became  rich.  But  so 
sure  as  they  did,  they  were  at  once  an  object  of  envy  and 
class  hatred  on  the  part  of  the  aristocracy,  with  the  re- 
sult that  they  were  in  constant  danger  of  being  accused 


32     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

of  witchcraft  and  put  to  death,  their  goods  being 
confiscated  for  the  benefit  of  the  governing  class — the 
aristocracy. 

Since  slavery  has  been  formally  abolished  by  the 
French  government  the  line  between  slaves  and  this 
middle  class  has  almost  disappeared — but  not  quite,  for 
slavery  has  not  been  entirely  abolished.  But  the  "  aris- 
tocracy "  is  as  distinct  as  ever. 

Domestic  slavery  is  rarely  attended  with  the  usual 
horrors  of  alien  enslavement.  Mpongwe  slaves  were 
serfs  rather  than  slaves.  Until  the  advent  of  the  white 
slaver  they  were  rarely  sold  or  exchanged.  Mpongwe 
slaves  were  sometimes  taken  for  debt  and  sometimes 
stolen  from  other  tribes. 

Several  Mpongwe  men  have  told  me  that  their  slaves 
were  children  of  the  interior  whom  they  had  rescued 
when  their  parents  had  thrown  them  away,  either  into 
the  bush  to  perish  by  the  beasts,  or  into  the  river.  They 
must  have  been  driven  to  this  by  some  cruel  superstition ; 
for  the  African  loves  his  children,  and  the  mother  of  his 
children  is  his  favourite  wife.  Perhaps  the  children  were 
twins.  In  many  tribes  there  is  such  a  fear  of  twins  that 
they  are  often  put  to  death  and  their  mother  with  them. 
In  some  of  these  tribes  they  are  believed  to  be  the  result 
of  adultery  with  a  spirit. 

Many  former  slaves  have  chosen  to  maintain  the  old 
relationship — somewhat  modified — rather  than  accept  full 
freedom,  and  be  left  without  friends,  family  or  posses- 
sions ;  a  peculiar  misfortune  for  those  who  have  never 
had  an  opportunity  to  acquire  a  habit  of  independence. 

At  one  time  a  man  named  Ndinga  was  working  for  me. 
He  was  a  faithful  workman,  except  for  one  inexplicable 
fault.  Occasionally  he  would  stay  away  half  a  day  or 
the  entire  day  without  asking  to  be  excused,  or  notifying 
me.  Several  times  he  did  this  when  I  was  about  to  make 


THE  WISE  ONES  33 

a  trip  up  the  river,  and  was  depending  upon  him  to 
make  one  of  the  crew.  At  length  I  dismissed  him  and 
he  departed  without  explanation  or  complaint.  But  one 
of  the  other  men  came  to  me  and  told  me  Ndinga's  plight. 
He  was  really  the  slave  of  an  Mpongwe  chief,  right  under 
the  eyes  of  the  government.  The  master  allowed  him  to 
work  for  himself,  but  I  imagine  he  took  part  of  his  wages. 
He  also  exercised  the  right  to  call  upon  him  at  any  time 
for  personal  services,  and  each  time  that  he  had  stayed 
away  from  his  work  he  had  been  called  by  the  master, 
who  ignored  my  claim  upon  Ndinga  and  the  consequent 
inconvenience  to  me,  though  he  claimed  to  be  my  per- 
sonal friend.  Ndiuga  was  sufficiently  civilized  to  feel 
the  degradation  of  his  position,  and  the  poor  fellow  sub- 
mitted to  rebuke  and  final  dismissal  rather  than  tell  me 
he  was  a  slave.  I  learned  also  that  he  had  lost  several 
other  positions  in  the  same  way  and  had  usually  been  dis- 
missed with  cursing  and  abuse.  I  sent  for  him  im- 
mediately, and  without  explanation  told  him  that  I  had 
changed  my  mind  and  that  he  could  return  to  work. 
Meantime,  I  called  the  master,  and  reminding  him  that 
slavery  was  strictly  forbidden,  I  told  him  that  if  he 
should  again  call  Ndinga  away  from  work  I  would  notify 
the  government.  There  was  no  further  trouble. 

This  man,  Ndinga,  was  in  pitiable  need  of  a  friend.  It 
is  extremely  easy  for  a  slave  to  get  a  bad  reputation,  and 
Ndinga  was  said  to  be  a  "  leopard-man,"  that  is,  a  man 
who  changes  himself  into  a  leopard — either  in  order  to 
kill  an  enemy  or  devour  a  sheep.  I  have  heard  Ndinga 
accused  of  this  frequently ;  and  there  were  many  who 
regarded  him  with  great  fear.  Every  hysterical  woman 
who  thought  that  she  saw  a  leopard  was  ready  to  swear 
that  it  was  Ndinga.  If  the  leopards  had  been  active  in 
the  community  at  that  time  all  their  doings  would  have 
been  charged  against  him. 


34     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFKICA 

The  Mpongwe  women  are  regarded  as  the  best-looking 
and  most  graceful  women  on  the  entire  coast.  Wherever 
there  are  communities  of  white  men,  even  hundreds  of 
miles  north  and  south  of  Gaboon,  there  are  Mpongwe 
women  ;  for  it  is  with  them  more  than  the  women  of  any 
other  tribe  that  white  men  form  temporary  alliances. 

The  Gaboon  belle  has  a  brown  complexion  and  fault- 
less skin,  fine  features  and  dreamy  dark  eyes  with  long 
lashes.  She  moves  so  easily  that  she  carries  her  folded 
parasol,  or  bottle  of  gin,  or  other  indispensable,  on  her 
head.  She  dresses  her  hair  neatly  and  with  great  pains ; 
usually  parting  it  in  the  middle  and  arranging  it  in  numer- 
ous small  braids  which  she  fastens  behind.  Her  dress  is  a 
large  square  robe  of  bright  colours,  often  of  fine  material, 
wound  around  her,  immediately  below  her  arms,  reach- 
ing to  her  feet  and  kept  in  place  by  a  roll  around  the  top 
of  it — a  peculiar  twist  of  leger  de  main  which  only  a  black 
hand  can  perform.  Somewhere  in  this  roll  her  pipe  is 
usually  hidden  away.  This  dress  leaves  her  graceful 
shoulders  and  arms  uncovered.  She  wears  slippers  with 
white  stockings,  and  upon  her  head  a  very  large  silk 
handkerchief  of  bright  colour,  beautifully  arranged  in  a 
turban.  Add  to  this  a  lace  or  silk  scarf  thrown  over  one 
shoulder,  not  forgetting  her  silk  parasol  carried  unopened 
on  her  head ;  then  add  a  lot  of  jewelry  and  plenty  of 
perfume,  and  her  attire  is  complete.  Moreover,  she  has 
a  soft  voice,  and  does  not  yell  except  when  she  quarrels, 
and  she  seldom  quarrels  when  she  is  dressed  in  her  best. 
Most  of  the  Christian  women  wear  an  unbelted  wrapper, 
or  Mother  Hubbard. 

The  Mpongwe  people  are  peculiarly  gentle,  and 
courteous  in  their  manners  ;  and  in  this  respect  the  men 
even  surpass  the  women.  Travelling  in  a  boat  with  an 
Mpongwe  crew,  one  is  always  surprised  at  their  courtesy 
and  thoughtful  consideration.  Courtesy,  indeed,  which 


THE  WISE  ONES  35 

some  one  calls  "benevolence  in  little  things,"  is  a  racial 
characteristic.  I  was  once  obliged  to  make  a  very  hard 
journey  from  Batanga  to  Benito,  a  hundred  miles  down 
the  coast.  For  this  purpose  I  purchased  a  bicycle  in  a 
German  trading-house  at  Dualla,  the  capital  of  Kainerun. 
The  bicycle  weighed  fifty  pounds,  and  cost  me  a  dollar  a 
pound.  I  did  not  realize  what  I  was  undertaking.  The 
sea-breeze  was  against  me ;  portions  of  the  beach  were  of 
soft  sand  and  parts  of  it  were  so  rough  and  rocky  that  I 
had  to  climb  steep  banks  and  stretches  of  rock,  carrying 
the  fifty-pound  wheel  on  my  shoulders.  I  had  been  long 
in  Africa  and  my  strength  was  greatly  reduced.  Several 
times,  almost  overcome  with  exhaustion,  I  threw  myself 
down  upon  the  beach  and  lay  there  for  half  an  hour  before 
I  could  go  on.  There  were  various  misadventures  along 
the  way  and  a  sensational  escape  from  quicksand.  It 
was  an  opportunity,  however,  to  test  the  kindness  of  the 
native. 

I  took  no  food,  but  depended  upon  the  hospitality  of 
those  to  whom  I  was  a  stranger  ;  although  if  hospitality 
had  failed,  I  could  have  paid  for  food  ;  but  not  once  did 
it  fail  along  the  way.  Wherever  there  was  a  stream  to 
be  waded,  if  a  native  was  anywhere  in  sight,  either  on 
the  beach,  or  fishing  out  on  the  sea,  in  his  canoe,  I  called 
or  beckoned  to  him,  and  he  came  and  carried  me  over — 
for  a  white  man  must  not  get  wet  when  he  is  exposed  to 
the  wind ;  then  he  went  back  and  got  my  wheel.  In  one 
place  the  water  was  to  the  man's  shoulders,  and  there 
was  a  current,  but  he  held  me  in  a  horizontal  position 
above  his  head,  and  exerting  his  whole  strength,  with 
firm,  slow  step  he  proceeded,  and  set  me  down  dry  on  the 
other  side.  Then  he  cheerfully  turned  about  and  went 
after  my  wheel.  In  another  place  heavy  crags  projected 
into  the  sea  and  at  high  tide  there  was  no  beach  for  a 
quarter  of  a  mile,  so  that  I  wag  compelled  to  carry  the 


36      THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

wheel.  At  this  place,  I  met  a  native  carrying  a  load  who 
was  evidently  returning  from  a  journey  to  the  interior  ; 
and  upon  my  request  for  help,  he  at  once  hid  his  load  by 
the  way  and  taking  my  wheel  carried  it  over  the  rocks, 
nearly  all  this  distance,  to  the  better  beach  beyond.  In 
every  case  I  told  the  man  beforehand  that  I  did  not  ex- 
pect to  pay  him  for  his  service  except  in  friendship,  and 
friendship  sufficed.  Nor  did  I  pay  anything  for  my  food  ; 
and  not  once  on  the  entire  journey  had  I  the  least  diffi- 
culty in  procuring  it.  Some  of  these  people  were  of  other 
tribes ;  but  in  courtesy  the  Mpongwe  surpass  them  all. 

They  generally  live  at  peace  within  the  family  and  the 
village.  The  men,  at  least,  rarely  fight.  Whenever  I 
heard  that  an  Mpongwe  fight  was  in  progress,  I  rushed 
to  the  scene ;  but  I  must  confess  to  mixed  motives.  For 
a  fight  among  Mpougwe  men  is  decidedly  picturesque 
and  entertaining,  since  they  fight  by  butting  each  other 
in  the  stomach  with  their  heads.  The  women  are  much 
more  quarrelsome,  and  these  very  belles,  whose  beauty 
I  have  praised,  have  frequent  quarrels  and  occasional 
fights,  the  latter  usually  involving  a  number  of  women  ; 
for  though  the  quarrel  commences  with  two  women,  when 
it  gets  to  a  real  fight  the  family  and  relations  of  each 
woman  take  part  in  it.  From  this  moment  it  proceeds 
somewhat  formally.  They  line  up  on  two  sides,  and  with 
a  lively  accompaniment  of  appropriate  language,  they 
rush  upon  each  other,  not  usually  striking,  nor  scratch- 
ing, but  each  woman  seeking  to  tear  off  her  opponent's 
robe.  I  witnessed  such  a  fight  in  which  eighteen  women 
engaged.  A  woman,  when  her  robe  is  taken  off,  admits 
defeat.  For  this  reason,  instead  of  preparing  for  a  fight 
by  donning  her  oldest  clothes,  she  prepares  by  putting 
on  her  newest  and  strongest,  which  she  doubles  and  ties 
about  her  waist,  letting  it  fall  to  her  knees,  but  she  wears 
no  upper  garment. 


THE  WISE  ONES  37 

There  is  a  strange  war-custom  in  all  the  tribes  of  "West 
Africa  unlike  anything  I  have  ever  heard  of  elsewhere. 
Sometimes  when  one  of  their  number  is  killed,  or  a  woman 
stolen  by  an  enemy,  instead  of  avenging  his  death  directly 
they  will  kill  some  one  of  a  third  town  which  has  nothing 
whatever  to  do  with  the  palaver.  This  third  town  is  then 
expected  to  join  with  them  in  punishing  the  first  town, 
which,  being  the  original  offender,  was  the  cause  of  all 
the  trouble.  In  The  Jungle  Folk  of  Africa  I  have  de- 
scribed this  custom  thus : 

"Among  the  Mpongwe,  in  the  old  days  before  the 
foreign  power  was  established,  and  among  the  closely 
related  tribes  south  of  them,  this  custom  prevailed  in  an 
extreme  form.  A  woman  being  stolen,  the  people  of  the 
offended  town  would  hurry  to  another  town  near  by,  be- 
fore the  news  had  reached  them,  and  would  kill  some- 
body. This  town  would  then  hurry  to  the  next  and  kill 
somebody  there,  each  town  doing  likewise  until  perhaps 
five  or  six  persons  of  as  many  different  towns  would  be 
killed  in  one  night.  The  last  town  would  then,  with  the 
help  of  the  others,  demand  justice  from  the  first.  It  may 
be  that  the  object  of  this  frightful  custom  was  to  restrain 
men  from  committing  the  initial  crime,  that  might  be  at- 
tended with  such  wide-spread  death,  bringing  upon  them- 
selves the  curses  of  many  people.  For  above  all  things 
the  African  cannot  bear  to  be  disliked  and  cannot  endure 
execration." 

The  Mpongwe  now  have  no  war- customs.  And  I  am 
not  sure  that  peace  has  proved  an  unmixed  blessing. 
They  have  lost  something  of  courage  and  virility. 

Despite  the  veneer  of  civilization,  I  fear  that  this 
amiable  and  graceful  people — excepting  only  the  few 
Christians — are  as  superstitious  as  ever.  Nature  is  still 
inhabited  by  myriad  spirits  to  whose  activity  natural 
phenomena  are  due.  They  still  speak  of  the  great  spirit 


38     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

who  causes  the  flow  and  ebb  of  the  tide  by  dropping  an 
enormous  stone  into  the  sea  and  again  removing  it.  Trial 
by  ordeal  is  common  even  among  the  most  intelligent. 
And  not  a  death  occurs  among  them  that  is  not  attributed 
to  witchcraft. 

A  man  dying  in  the  hospital  at  Gaboon  turns  his 
solemn,  beautiful  eyes  towards  one  who  sits  beside  him, 
and  tells  in  confidence  what  has  brought  about  his  death. 
It  is  strange  how  approaching  death,  as  if  to  testify  to 
man's  divine  origin  in  the  hour  of  his  most  appalling  de- 
feat, dignifies  the  features  and  countenance  of  the  lowest 
with  a  mysterious  dignity  that  transcends  all  differences 
of  colour,  transforms  even  natural  ugliness,  and  brings 
all  men  to  one  level.  The  greatest  is  no  more  than 
human  ;  the  lowest  is  no  less.  This  dying  man  tells  how 
that  some  weeks  past,  having  gone  on  a  journey  to  a 
certain  town  forty  miles  north,  and  during  the  night 
having  wondered  what  his  friends  at  home  might  be  do- 
ing, he  thought  he  would  visit  Gaboon,  leaving  his  body 
while  his  spirit  alone  travelled  through  the  air.  But  on 
the  way  he  met  a  company  of  spirits  making  a  similar 
journey,  one  of  whom  was  an  enemy  ;  who,  recognizing 
him,  gave  him  a  fatal  thrust  in  the  side.  He  quickly  re- 
turned to  his  body ;  but  in  the  morning  he  felt  the  weak- 
ness resulting  from  the  fatal  stroke,  and  from  that  day 
had  grown  weaker  and  weaker  until  death  was  upon  him. 

I  was  present  at  the  trial  of  a  slave,  in  a  leading 
Mpougwe  town,  who  was  accused  of  causing  the  death  of 
one  of  the  relations  of  the  chief,  a  man  who  had  been  ill 
for  a  long  time  with  tuberculosis.  I  had  been  calling  on 
the  sick  man  regularly.  One  day,  going  again  to  the  town, 
I  saw  a  crowd  of  people  gathered  in  the  street  who  were 
very  much  excited.  The  man  had  just  died,  and  as  usual 
the  panic-stricken  people  were  determined  to  blame 
somebody.  The  chief  who  was  trying  the  case  was  a  well- 


THE  WISE  ONES  39 

educated  man  who  had  been  closely  associated  with  white 
people  all  his  life  and  was  prominent  in  trade.  Arbi- 
trary suspicion  had  about  settled  upon  this  slave — for 
slaves  are  always  the  first  to  be  suspected — when  a  boy 
came  forward  and  said  that  on  the  preceding  night  he 
had  discovered  the  slave  standing  behind  the  sick  man's 
house  and  that  he  had  watched  him  while  he  opened  a 
bundle  of  leaves  which  he  had  in  his  hand  and  in  which 
was  a  piece  of  human  flesh  like  a  fish  in  size  and  form. 
No  more  evidence  was  necessary.  No  one  asked  the  boy 
how  he  knew  that  it  was  not  a  fish  which  he  had  seen ; 
nor  how  he  knew  that  it  was  human. 

They  would  have  killed  the  man  instantly  bat  for  their 
fear  of  the  French  government ;  for  the  town  was  close 
beside  the  capital.  When  I  tried  to  reason  with  them, 
they  answered  me  with  the  all-sufficient  exclamation  : 
"Ask  the  boy!  Ask  him  yourself !"  Those  who  took 
the  leading  part  in  this  trial  were  dressed  like  Europeans. 

Sickness  and  death,  they  believe,  may  be  caused  by 
fetish  medicine,  which  need  not  be  administered  to  the 
victim,  but  is  usually  laid  beside  the  path  where  he  ifl 
about  to  pass.  Others  may  pass  and  it  will  do  them  no 
harm.  The  parings  of  finger-nails,  the  hair  of  the  vic- 
tim and  such  things  are  powerful  ingredients  in  these 
"medicines."  An  Mpongwe,  after  having  his  hair  cut, 
gathers  up  every  hair  most  carefully  and  burns  it  lest  an 
enemy  should  secure  it  and  use  it  to  his  injury.  When 
sickness  continues  for  a  length  of  time  they  usually  con- 
clude that  some  offended  relation  has  caused  an  evil  spirit 
to  abide  in  the  town. 

An  Mpongwe  man,  Ayenwe,  had  a  severe  attack  of  in- 
flammatory rheumatism.  I  was  going  to  see  him  reg- 
ularly and  doing  what  little  I  could  for  him.  But  his 
mother's  people,  who  lived  in  a  town  four  miles  away, 
concluded  that  it  was  a  spell  of  witchcraft,  inflicted  by 


40     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

his  father's  people.  So  they  came  one  stormy  night  at 
midnight  and  stealing  him  out  of  his  house,  put  him  in  a 
canoe  and  carried  him  on  the  rough  sea  to  their  town. 
The  patient  can  always  be  prevailed  upon  by  his  rela- 
tions, if  there  are  enough  of  them  to  wear  out  his  resist- 
ance. However  strongly  he  may  object  at  first  he  will 
finally  throw  up  his  hands  and  say  :  "  Kill  me  if  you  will 
then.  The  responsibility  is  yours  ;  I  have  nothing  more 
to  do  with  it."  A  man's  very  soul  is  not  his  own  in 
Africa. 

An  Mpongwe  woman,  Paia,  was  suffering  greatly  from 
salivation,  through  the  injudicious  use  of  calomel.  She 
was  a  Christian  woman  and  a  member  in  the  Mpongwe 
Church,  although  her  relations  were  all  heathen.  She 
was  in  agony  and  a  fellow  missionary  and  myself  had  al- 
ready reached  the  point  where  we  could  do  nothing  more 
for  her.  The  numerous  heathen  relations  were  all  pres- 
ent. They  sat  on  the  floor  smoking  and  expectorating  in 
gloomy  silence,  with  the  windows  closed,  and  filled  the 
house  so  that  I  could  hardly  pass  in  and  out.  I  tried  my 
best  to  get  them  to  take  Paia  to  the  French  hospital,  but 
they  were  horrified  at  the  bare  suggestion.  The  tales  in 
free  circulation  concerning  the  hospital — poisons  admin- 
istered by  the  doctor,  mutilation,  and  death  by  slow  tor- 
ture— would  fill  a  volume.  Several  days  passed :  Paia 
was  worse.  They  concluded  that  the  house  was  be- 
witched— and  perhaps  the  whole  town — and  resolved  to 
jcarry  her  away  to  another  town,  across  the  river.  In 
such  cases  it  is  advisable  to  put  a  body  of  water  between 
the  victim  and  the  bewitched  town.  Paia  told  me  that 
she  was  more  than  willing  to  go  to  the  hospital  if  they 
would  let  her  ;  but  she  said  they  would  never  consent. 
Next  morning  about  daylight  I  suddenly  appeared  before 
her  door  with  four  strong  men  and  a  hammock  swung  on 
a  pole.  Before  her  relations  knew  what  had  happened 


THE  WISE  ONES  41 

one  of  the  men  had  carried  her  out  to  the  hammock,  and 
we  started  to  the  hospital.  The  French  doctor,  one  of 
the  very  best  on  the  coast,  at  my  request  gave  her  special 
attention,  and  in  a  few  days  she  was  well. 

The  lowest  reach  of  Mpongwe  degradation  is  repre- 
sented by  the  woman's  secret  society,  to  which  a  majority 
of  the  Mpougwe  women  belong — practically  all,  except 
the  Christians,  who  regard  it  with  abhorrence.  I  know 
of  nothing  in  any  interior  tribe  more  degrading  and  im- 
moral. In  former  times  of  cruelty  and  oppression  the  so- 
ciety probably  served  for  the  protection  of  women  against 
their  husbands  ;  but  in  these  times  it  is  the  husbands 
who  need  protection,  and  the  society,  having  outlived 
its  usefulness,  has  degenerated.  The  women  of  the  so- 
ciety frequently  meet  together  at  night,  usually  in  an 
arbour  of  palms,  and  sing  unspeakably  lewd  songs — 
phallic  songs— which  are  heard  all  over  the  village. 
There  is  always  a  crowd  of  young  men  gathered  around 
the  arbour  ;  and  the  badinage  which  passes  between 
them  and  the  women  is  shocking.  And  yet  these  same 
persons,  on  all  other  occasions  in  their  daily  intercourse, 
observe  a  degree  of  decorum  which  would  astonish  those 
who  think  that  there  is  scarcely  any  such  thing  as  de- 
corum in  Africa. 


m 

A  DYING  TRIBE 

THIS  amiable  and  attractive  people,  theMpongwe 
tribe,  is  now  but  a  dying  remnant,  hurrying  to 
extinction.  It  is  not  long  since  they  were  num- 
bered by  tens  of  thousands ;  now  there  are  probably  not 
more  than  five  hundred  pure  Mpongwe.  There  are 
women  among  them  for  whom  marriage  is  impossible. 
For,  as  I  have  already  said,  their  social  superiority  makes 
it  impossible  for  them  to  marry  into  other  tribes ;  but, 
within  their  own  tribe,  many  Mpongwe  women  are  re- 
lated, nearly  or  remotely,  to  every  surviving  family,  and 
the  very  strict  laws  of  consanguinity  forbid  the  marriage 
of  related  persons.  It  is  expected,  therefore,  that  these 
women  will  make  their  alliances  with  white  men  ;  that 
is,  that  they  will  not  marry  at  all. 

The  first  exterminating  factor  was  slavery.  Sir  Harry 
Johnston,  in  The  Civilization  of  Africa,  has  this  to  say  in 
regard  to  the  fatal  adaptability  of  the  Negro  to  a  con- 
dition of  slavery  : 

"The  Negro  in  general  is  a  born  slave.  He  is  pos- 
sessed of  physical  strength,  docility,  cheerfulness  of  dis- 
position, a  short  memory  for  sorrows  and  cruelties,  and 
an  easily  aroused  gratitude  for  kindness  and  just  dealing. 
He  does  not  suffer  from  homesickness  to  the  overbearing 
extent  that  afflicts  other  peoples  torn  from  their  homes, 
and,  provided  he  is  well  fed,  he  is  easily  made  happy. 
Above  all,  he  can  toil  hard  under  the  hot  sun  and  in  the 
unhealthy  climates  of  the  torrid  zone.  He  has  little  or 

42 


A  DYING  TRIBE  43" 

no  race-fellowships — that  is  to  say,  he  has  no  sympathy 
for  other  Negroes  ;  he  recognizes  and  follows  his  master 
independent  of  any  race  affinities,  and  as  he  is  usually  a 
strong  man  and  a  good  fighter,  he  has  come  into  request 
not  only  as  a  labourer  but  as  a  soldier." 

Sir  Harry,  speaking  as  an  eye-witness  of  the  capturing 
and  the  exportation  of  slaves,  gives  a  lurid  description  of 
their  sufferings,  which,  he  says,  "  were  so  appalling  that 
they  almost  transcend  belief."  He  makes  a  conservative 
estimate  that  in  the  modern  period  of  the  slave-traffic 
twenty  million  Africans  must  have  been  sold  into  slavery. 
The  Mpongwe  was  one  of  the  tribes  that  suffered  most. 
A  large  portion  of  their  country  was  depopulated.  The 
slave-traffic  was  frightfully  demoralizing  to  the  Africans 
themselves.  It  excited  fiendish  passions,  stifled  every  in- 
stinct of  humanity  and  inspired  craft  and  cruelty  far  sur- 
passing anything  hitherto  known.  It  was  said  that  three 
men  of  the  same  family  dared  not  leave  their  town  to- 
gether lest  two  of  them  should  combine  to  sell  the  third. 

More  than  half  a  century  has  passed  since  the  last  slave 
ship  sailed  out  of  Gaboon  harbour  and  disappeared  over 
the  western  horizon  with  its  cargo  of  grief  and  rage,  many 
of  them  wailing  vengeance  in  a  mournful  chant,  impro- 
vising the  words  as  they  sang.  For  the  African  sings  his 
bitterest  grief  as  well  as  his  joy.  He  sings  where  the 
white  man  would  weep,  or  curse  ;  but  to  the  accustomed 
ear  no  cry  could  equal  the  pity  of  his  song. 

It  was  in  this  region  that  Du  Chaillu  hunted  the 
gorilla  and  gathered  much  of  the  material  for  his  famous 
books.  An  interior  chief,  in  appreciation  of  Du  Chaillu' s 
visit  to  his  town,  once  presented  him  with  a  fat  slave ; 
and  when  Du  Chaillu  kindly  declined  the  offer,  protest- 
ing that  he  would  not  know  what  to  do  with  him,  the  chief 
exclaimed  in  astonishment :  lt  You  must  kill  him  and  eat 
him,  of  course." 


44     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

Du  Chaillu  spat  violently  upon  the  ground — the  African 
way  of  expressing  disgust  and  abhorrence. 

"Then,"  said  the  bewildered  chief,  "  what  do  you  do 
with  all  our  people  who  are  sent  down  the  river  and  far 
away  to  your  country  I  We  have  believed  that  you  fat- 
ten them  and  eat  them." 

It  is  supposed  that  our  present  mission  station  was 
formerly  the  site  of  a  slave  pen,  where  slaves  were  kept 
until  they  were  shipped — a  barracoon  ;  hence  the  name 
Bardka. 

The  slave-traffic  was  succeeded  by  the  rum-traffic  ;  and 
it  would  not  be  easy  to  say  which  of  the  two  has  proved 
the  greater  evil  for  Africa.  There  is  more  drunkenness 
in  Gaboon,  among  the  Mpongwe,  than  in  most  places  on 
the  coast.  Except  among  the  few  Christians,  an  abun- 
dance of  rum  is  used  at  every  marriage  and  every  funeral 
and  both  men  and  women  drink  to  drunkenness.  The 
women  drink  as  much  as  the  men,  and  there  are  a  greater 
number  of  hopeless  dipsomaniacs  among  them. 

One  day,  as  I  was  walking  along  the  beach,  I  met  a 
bright-looking  Mpongwe  woman  who  surprised  me  by  ad- 
dressing me  in  English.  I  was  eager  to  know  who  she 
was.  She  said  her  name  was  Elida  Harrington,  and  that 
when  she  was  very  young  the  wife  of  one  of  our  mission- 
aries, for  whom  she  had  been  working,  took  her  to 
America  when  she  went  on  furlough  and  that  during  the 
period  of  the  furlough  she  had  attended  school  in 
America.  Those  early  days  were  evidently  a  sweet 
memory,  and  Elida' s  face  was  aglow  with  pleasure  as  she 
told  me.  Finally  I  asked  her  why  I  had  never  seen  her 
at  the  mission.  The  glow  faded  from  her  face,  and  after 
a  moment  of  gloomy  silence  she  replied  :  "  You'll  know 
soon  enough." 

I  afterwards  learned  that  Elida,  when  she  was  young, 
was  married  to  a  man  who  was  given  to  nagging.  He  was 


A  DYING  TKIBE  45 

continually  making  petty  and  groundless  charges  of  in- 
fidelity against  his  wife.  There  is  no  surer  way  to  inspire 
the  dislike  of  the  African.  They  are  wonderfully  gener- 
ous in  forgiving  impulsive  cruelty,  but  continual  nagging 
will  alienate  them.  At  last,  just  to  spite  her  husband, 
Elida  told  him  that  all  his  charges  were  true  ;  that  she 
had  done  all  those  things,  and  much  worse — such  things 
as  he  had  never  thought  of  charging  against  her.  Her 
husband,  when  he  recovered  from  a  paroxysm  of  rage  and 
astonishment,  told  her  to  pack  her  things  and  leave  his 
house ;  to  which  she  quietly  replied  that  she  would  be 
glad  to  do  so,  since  she  had  already  decided  upon  that 
very  course. 

Soon  after  my  first  meeting  with  Elida  I  called  at  her 
house.  It  was  then  that  I  learned  why  she  kept  away 
from  the  mission.  She  was  so  intoxicated  that  she  could 
not  get  to  the  door.  And  this  was  habitual. 

One  day  Elida  went  to  see  her  sister  Jane,  who  was  sick 
in  bed.  Jane  wanted  some  bread  and  gave  her  the  price 
of  a  loaf  and  asked  her  to  go  out  and  buy  it  for  her. 
Poor  Jane  never  got  the  bread.  And  poor  Elida  !  She 
went  only  as  far  as  the  first  rum-shop. 

I  think  of  another,  a  young  man  who  bore  an  honoured 
name,  Augustus  Boardman,  and  who  from  his  childhood 
was  closely  connected  with  the  mission.  He  spoke  Eng- 
lish not  like  an  African  but  as  if  it  were  his  native  tongue. 
I  never  knew  a  native  who  understood  the  finer  feelings 
of  white  people  as  Augustus  did.  I  never  knew  a  native 
who  had  in  himself  so  much  of  what  we  call  sentiment. 
On  one  occasion  he  went  with  me  to  Angom  where  Mr. 
Marling  was  buried.  Mr.  Marling,  who  had  been  dead 
for  five  years,  was  the  missionary  whom  Augustus  had 
known  best  and  loved  most.  In  the  evening,  just  before 
leaving  for  the  coast,  I  happened  to  pass  Mr.  Marling' s 
grave,  and  there  I  saw  a  beautiful  wreath  of  flowers  care- 


46      THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

fully  woven,  which  Augustus  had  laid  upon  the  grave. 
The  African  is  strangely  indifferent  to  flowers,  and  I  have 
never  known  another  who  would  have  done  what 
Augustus  did. 

On  another  occasion  I  received  a  letter  from  him  when 
he  was  up  the  Ogowe  Eiver.  He  wrote  that  while  visit- 
ing at  our  old  mission  on  the  Ogowe  he  had  come  across 
an  English  song-book,  in  which  he  had  found  a  song,  the 
words  of  which  were  the  most  beautiful  he  had  ever  read 
in  his  life  ;  so  beautiful  that  he  had  committed  them  to 
memory ;  and  he  was  wondering  whether  it  was  well 
known  and  commonly  sung  among  English-speaking 
people.  He  copied  the  words  of  the  entire  song  and  en- 
closed them  in  the  letter.  The  song  was  The  Lost  Chord. 
The  anguish  of  the  lost  chord  in  his  own  life  was  the 
secret  of  the  deep  impression  that  the  song  made  upon 
him. 

In  America  a  child  can  be  kept  out  of  the  way  of  the 
worst  temptations  until  he  has  reached  years  of  discre- 
tion, but  such  separation  is  impossible  in  Africa.  This 
boy,  when  he  was  a  little  child,  was  taught  to  drink  rum  j 
his  mother  died  a  hopeless  victim  of  it ;  and  by  the  time 
he  was  a  young  man  the  appetite  for  it  was  insatiable  and 
complete  master  of  him.  The  finer  feelings  which  char- 
acterized him  seemed  to  make  him  all  the  more  the 
victim  of  this  inordinate  desire.  He  fought  it  as  he 
might  have  fought  a  python  of  his  native  jungles,  but 
in  vain.  On  one  occasion,  in  the  presence  of  Mr. 
Marling,  he  pledged  himself  with  the  solemnity  of  an 
oath  never  to  taste  it  again.  A  few  days  afterwards 
he  was  walking  down  the  street  of  an  interior  town 
when  most  unexpectedly  he  met  a  boy  with  a  bottle 
of  rum.  He  sprang  at  the  boy,  snatched  the  bottle 
from  him  and  drank  the  contents.  Other  efforts  ended 
similarly.  He  afterwards  made  such  promises  to  me, 


A  DYING  TRIBE  47 

weeping  and  fairly  prostrated  with  shame  and  hu- 
miliation j  yet  he  soon  fell  again.  He  became  at  length 
quite  hopeless,  and  it  was  necessary  to  dismiss  him 
from  all  service  in  the  mission.  He  got  several  good 
positions,  but  lost  them  immediately.  When  I  last  saw 
him  he  was  a  moral  wreck  and  almost  an  outcast  even  in 
Africa,  where  there  are  no  outcasts.  Augustus  has  since 
died  ;  one  more  victim  of  poisoned  rum. 

He  is  full  of  compassion  and  plenteous  in  mercy.  And, 
knowing  Augustus  as  I  knew  him,  I  dare  to  hope  that  he 
has  again  at  last  heard  the  long-lost  chord,  and  the  sound 
of  the  great  Amen. 

The  native  is  constitutionally  incapable  of  being  a 
moderate  drinker.  And,  besides,  drunkenness  is  not 
disgraceful ;  they  have  not  the  spirit  that  revolts  from 
it.  I  have  personally  seen  little  children  intoxicated.  I 
have  seen  them  intoxicated  in  the  schoolroom.  I  have 
known  of  parents  getting  their  own  children  to  drink  to 
intoxication  for  their  amusement.  It  is  doubtful  whether 
there  is  another  tribe  in  all  West  Africa  so  besotted  with 
alcoholism  as  the  Mpongwe.  Physicians  agree  that  it  is 
one  of  the  chief  causes  of  their  increasing  sterility. 

Another  factor  in  the  extermination  of  the  Mpongwe  is 
the  demoralization  of  domestic  life  incident  to  methods 
of  trade.  The  Mpongwe  man  is  a  trader  by  instinct.  In 
shrewdness  and  diplomacy  I  doubt  whether  he  has  a 
superior  among  all  the  tribes  of  West  Africa.  This 
shrewdness  he  expresses  in  many  homely  proverbs ;  as, 
for  example,  when  he  says  :  "  If  you  must  sleep  three  in 
a  bed,  sleep  in  the  middle."  White  traders  all  along  the 
coast  employ  the  Mpongwe  as  middlemen  between  them 
and  the  interior  people,  who  possess  the  export  prod- 
ucts. The  white  man  gives  the  middleman  a  certain 
quantity  of  goods  on  trust.  With  these  he  goes  to  the 
interior  and  establishes  a  small  trading-post  in  one  or 


48      THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

several  towns.  It  is  a  life  of  privation  and  danger,  a 
lonely,  miserable  existence,  bat  he  endures  it  with  pa- 
tience for  the  joyful  hope  that  at  the  end  of  a  year  or  two 
he  may  return  to  his  beloved  town  and  family  in  Gaboon, 
so  rich  that  he  can  afford  to  "rip"  for  six  months;  to 
dress  so  that  the  women  will  adore  him  and  the  men 
hate  him.  His  goods  being  soon  exhausted  by  his 
numerous  relations  as  well  as  himself,  he  starts  off  for 
another  year  or  two.  He  has  a  wife,  or  wives,  at 
Gaboon,  and  he  takes  to  himself  a  wife  or  two  at  each 
of  his  interior  trading-centres. 

In  the  dangers  of  these  middlemen  and  the  necessities 
of  trade  Miss  Mary  H.  Kingsley  finds  a  plausible  argu- 
ment for  polygamy,  amounting,  in  Miss  Kingsley' s  opin- 
ion, to  a  full  justification.  Indeed,  for  various  reasons, 
the  majority  of  traders  defend  and  advocate  native 
polygamy.  The  journeys  of  these  native  traders  to  the 
interior  are  dangerous,  and  I  agree  with  Miss  Kingsley 
that  they  deserve  credit  for  their  courage.  "Certainly 
they  run  less  risk  of  death  from  fever  than  a  white  man 
would  ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  their  colour  gives  them 
no  protection ;  and  their  chance  of  getting  murdered  is 
distinctly  greater ;  the  white  governmental  powers  can- 
not revenge  their  death  in  the  way  they  would  the  death 
of  a  white  man,  for  these  murders  usually  take  place 
away  in  some  forest  region,  in  a  district  no  white  man 
has  ever  penetrated." 

There  are  two  reasons  why  so  many  of  them  neverthe- 
less survive.  The  first  is  that  trade  follows  definite 
routes  and  the  trader  is  expected  about  once  in  six 
months  by  all  the  towns  along  the  way,  in  which  the 
people  are  eager  for  trade- goods,  the  men  "fairly  wild 
for  tobacco"  and  the  women  impatient  for  beads  and 
other  ornaments.  Under  these  circumstances,  for  the 
people  of  any  one  town  to  kill  the  trader  would  mean 


A  DYING  TRIBE  49 

trouble  between  that  town  and  the  other  towns  along  the 
route. 

But  this  consideration  alone  is  not  sufficient ;  and  Miss 
Kingsley  gives  us  the  means  that  he  employs  for  hia 
further  safety,  as  follows:  " But  the  trader  is  not  yet 
safe.     There  is  still  a  hole  in  his  armour,  and  this  is  only 
to  be  stopped  up  in  one  way,  namely,  by  wives  ;  for  you 
see,  although  the  village  cannot  safely  kill  him  and  take 
all  his  goods,  they  can  still  let  him  die  safely  of  a  disease, 
and  take  part  of  them,  passing  on  sufficient  stuff  to  the 
other  villages  to  keep  them  quiet.     Now  the  most  prev- 
alent disease  in  the  African  bush  comes  out  of  the  cook- 
ing-pot, and  so  to  make  what  goes  into  the  cooking-pot 
— which  is  the  important  point,  for  earthen  pots  do  not 
in   themselves  breed  poison — safe  and  wholesome,  you 
have  got  to  have  some  one  who  is  devoted  to  your  health 
to  attend  to  the  cooking  affairs  ;  and  who  can  do  this  like 
a  wife  f — one  in  each  village  of  the  whole  of  your  route. 
I  know  myself  one  gentleman  whose  wives  stretch  over 
300  miles  of  country,  with  a  good  wife  base  in  a  coast 
town  as  well.     This  system  of  judiciously  conducted  alli- 
ances gives  the  black  trader  a  security  nothing  else  can, 
because  naturally  he  marries  into  influential  families  at 
each  village,  and  all  the  wife's  relations  on  the  mother's 
side  regard  him  as  one  of  themselves  and  look  after  him 
and  his  interests.     That  security  can  lie  in  woman,  es- 
pecially so  many  women,  the  so-called  civilized  man  may 
ironically  doubt,  but  the  security  is  there,  and  there  only, 
and  on  a  sound  basis  ;  for  remember  that  the  position  of  a 
travelling  trader's  wife  in  a  village  is  a  position  that  gives 
the  lady  prestige,   the  discreet  husband  showing  little 
favours  to  her  family  and  friends,  if  she  asks  for  them 
while  he  is  with  her  ;  and  then  she  has  not  got  the  bother 
of  having  a  man  always  about  the  house,  and  liable  to  get 
all  sorts  of  silly  notions  into  his  head,  if  she  speaks  to  an- 


50     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFKICA 

other  gentleman,  and  then  go  and  impart  these  notions  to 
her  with  a  cutlass,  or  a  kassengo,  as  the  more  domestic 
husband,  I  am. assured  by  black  ladies,  is  prone  to."  1 

This  picture  is  not  untrue  to  the  facts.  And  yet  some 
of  us  who  have  old-fashioned  ideas  of  morality  are  not 
convinced  that  polygamy  is  thereby  justified  with  its 
beastly  immorality  on  the  part  of  those  men  and  of  all 
those  women  who  prefer  not  to  have  husbands  hanging 
about  the  house  with  silly  notions — that  is  to  say,  moral 
notions — about  the  behaviour  of  women.  And  however 
heartrending  may  be  the  condition  of  those  interior  men 
and  women,  without  tobacco  and  without  beads,  we  can- 
not agree  that  their  necessity  justifies  any  such  degrading 
practice  for  its  relief.  As  for  the  slight  excess  of  rubber 
and  ivory  that  civilized  folks  obtain  by  this  means,  it  may 
soothe  the  civilized  breast  to  know  that  all,  or  nearly  all, 
this  trade  produce  would  reach  the  coast  in  other  and 
more  legitimate  ways  without  these  middlemen,  whose 
presence  is  a  curse  to  the  interior  people,  whose  absence 
is  a  curse  to  their  own  tribe,  and  who  are  above  all  a 
curse  to  themselves. 

This  demoralization  of  domestic  life  is  even  worse  for 
the  Mpongwe  women  than  for  their  absent  husbands. 
There  is  a  large  settlement  of  white  men  in  Gaboon,  most 
of  them  government  officials.  And  because  of  the  climate 
the  white  population  is  always  rapidly  changing.  Nearly 
all  the  Mpongwe  women  become  the  mistresses  of  those 
men.  And  the  worst  of  it  is  that  instead  of  being  deemed 
disgraceful  this  only  gives  them  social  prestige  among 
their  own  people.  A  woman  said  to  me  one  day  : 

"Iga  is  so  proud  she  won't  speak  to  me  any  more." 

"Why?"  I  asked. 

"  Oh,  she  is  living  with  a  white  man  now,"  was  the 
reply. 

1  Travels  in  West  Africa,  p.  252. 


A  DYING  TRIBE  51 

The  marriage  tie  in  Gaboon  has  long  ceased  to  be  a 
"tie."  It  was  much  more  binding  before  the  advent  of 
the  white  man,  and  it  is  more  binding  to-day  among  the 
uncivilized  Fang. 

The  dreadful  diseases  that  have  been  imported  into 
Africa  are  certainly  a  factor  in  the  extermination  of  the 
Mpongwe.  But  the  subject  is  too  unpleasant  to  discuss 
at  length  in  this  place. 

Again,  the  disregard  of  native  institutions  and  the 
destruction  of  tribal  authority  by  the  foreign  govern- 
ment tends  to  break  down  all  authority  and  remove  all 
moral  restraints.  This  is  more  or  less  true  in  all  West 
Africa.  The  native  form  of  government  among  the 
Mpougwe  is  somewhat  patriarchal ;  authority  belongs  to 
the  head  of  the  family,  the  head  of  the  clan  and  the  head 
of  the  tribe.  The  native  reverence  for  the  authority  of 
these  men  is  the  saving  virtue  that  sustains  the  tribe. 
But  the  chief's  authority  and  this  reverence  are  destroyed 
together  when  the  people  see  him  tied  up  occasionally 
and  flogged ;  or  ruthlessly  flung  into  prison  ;  or  his 
authority  superseded  by  that  of  a  native  policeman. 
The  kingly  office  goes  begging  for  an  occupant  when  men 
find  that  the  grandeur  of  royalty  consists  in  being  held 
more  or  less  responsible  for  all  the  misdoings  of  all  the 
tribe,  while,  perhaps,  some  black  mistress  of  a  govern- 
ment official  has  more  real  power  than  the  native  king. 

The  authority  of  custom,  in  former  times,  even  ex- 
ceeded the  authority  of  kings.  But  the  foreigner  ignores 
native  customs,  or  ridicules  them,  or  even  condemns  and 
forbids  them — often  without  understanding  them.  The 
tribal  customs  of  Africa,  from  the  most  trivial  to  the  most 
revolting,  are  not  arbitrary,  but  have  a  moral  meaning 
and  significance  ;  though  they  sometimes  outlive  their  use- 
fulness. They  either  embody  such  rude  justice  as  the 
African  has  attained  ;  or  else  they  represent  the  opera- 


52     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

v 

tion  of  the  law  of  self-preservation.  One  can  give  a 
rational  explanation  even  of  the  most  cruel  and  revolt- 
ing custom  that  I  have  ever  known  in  Africa,  namely, 
the  custom  of  burying  a  man's  wives  alive  with  him 
when  he  dies.  Africa  abounds  with  deadly  poisons,  and 
African  wives  frequently  contract  an  unpleasant  habit  of 
using  them  in  the  cooking-pot.  How  common  the  prac- 
tice is  may  be  judged  by  the  African  proverb:  "We 
don't  eat  out  of  the  same  dish,"  used  for  instance  as  fol- 
lows :  "So-and-so  is  angry  but  what  do  I  care?  We 
don't  eat  out  of  the  same  dish."  The  wife  prepares  her 
husband's  food  and  has  the  daily  opportunity  of  using 
this  deadly  weapon.  But  this  burial  custom — the  fact 
that  when  he  dies  she  will  be  buried  with  him — gives  her 
a  personal  interest  in  keeping  him  alive.  It  is  scarcely 
necessary  to  say  that  I  think  that  this  custom  ought  to  be 
suppressed  and  its  observance  severely  punished.  But 
meantime  something  ought  to  be  done  to  improve  the 
morals  of  the  African  wife. 

The  dowry  paid  for  a  wife  among  the  Mpongwe  is  forty 
dollars.  Among  the  uncivilized  Fang  it  is  several  times 
this  amount,  although  the  Fang  are  very  poor  in  com- 
parison. The  Mpongwe  dowry  was  reduced  by  the 
French  government  as  a  step  in  the  direction  of  its  abol- 
ishment ;  for  it  is  nothing  more  than  a  purchase  price. 
But  the  result  of  this  forced  reduction  of  the  dowry  has 
been  demoralization  rather  than  civilization.  The  cus- 
tom among  all  tribes  is  that  if  a  wife  desert  her  husband 
her  family  must  pay  back  the  dowry  or  send  back  the 
wife.  It  is  not  easy  to  send  back  a  large  dowry,  and  the 
people,  being  unable  or  unwilling  to  do  it,  will  send  the 
woman  back  unless  she  has  a  very  strong  case  against  her 
husband.  But  forty  dollars  can  easily  be  raised,  espe- 
cially if  there  should  be  several  white  men  to  help.  So 
there  is  nothing  to  prevent  the  Mpongwe  woman  from 


A  DYING  TRIBE  53 

leaving  her  husband  when  she  pleases ;  and  it  pleases  her 
to  change  him  frequently.  Until  the  African  attains  the 
moral  sentiment  that  makes  the  marriage  bond  sacred 
it  is  better  that  there  should  be  the  bond  of  outright  pur- 
chase and  ownership  rather  than  no  marriage  at  all. 

It  is  so  with  the  whole  body  of  custom.  It  expresses 
the  inward  life  of  the  people.  It  contains  such  rudi- 
mentary morality  as  they  know,  or  embodies  a  principle 
that  is  necessary  for  the  preservation  of  society.  It  is  on 
the  level  of  the  African's  moral  culture.  It  corresponds 
with  his  beliefs  and  has  the  consent  of  his  mind.  The 
foreigner  may  by  sheer  force  change  his  outward  condi- 
tion, but  unless  there  be  also  a  corresponding  inward 
change  he  does  not  respond  to  the  new  obligations ;  his 
moral  responsibility  is  not  equal  to  the  new  demands, 
and  the  result  is  moral  degeneration  followed  inevitably 
by  physical  degeneration. 

This  very  matter  of  the  dowry  illustrates  the  different 
method  of  the  missionary  and,  I  believe,  the  true  prin- 
ciple of  progress.  Our  early  missionaries  made  no  church 
laws  against  the  dowry,  but  they  faithfully  preached  the 
equality  of  woman  and  the  higher  idea  of  marriage  ;  and 
as  the  Christians  became  imbued  with  this  sentiment 
they  themselves  abolished  the  dowry  within  their  own 
society.  But  they  did  it  at  the  instance  of  a  moral  senti- 
ment which  made  marriage  more  secure  than  ever.  The 
inward  preceded  the  outward  change.  The  missionary 
does  as  much  harm  as  anybody  else  when  he  adopts  the 
easy  method  of  ruthless  and  indiscriminate  assaults  upon 
native  customs  and  beliefs.  It  was  not  the  Master's 
method.  Even  slavery  Jesus  did  not  attack  with  vio- 
lence ;  that  were  as  vain — if  I  may  use  the  illustration  of 
Dr.  Eichard  Storrs — as  vain  as  to  attack  an  Arctic  ice- 
field with  pick  and  drill ;  but  He  turned  upon  it  the 
summer  sunshine  and  it  slowly  melted  away.  He  in- 


54     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

spired  men  with  a  sentiment  of  human  brotherhood  and 
destroyed  slavery  by  expelling  the  spirit  that  made  it 
possible.  The  African  has  a  rooted  antipathy  to  the  pick 
and  drill,  but  he  loves  the  sunshine ;  he  is  responsive  to 
truth  and  capable  of  high  and  transforming  affections. 

It  is  said  on  the  coast  that  England  rules  her  African 
colonies  for  commerce,  France  for  revenue  and  Spain  for 
plunder.  The  English  policy  gives  the  utmost  encour- 
agement to  native  enterprise  and  thrift,  and  on  the  whole 
the  English  colonies  are  the  most  prosperous  and  prom- 
ising. The  French  policy  of  revenue  imposes  such  a 
burden  of  taxation  that  life  no  longer  consists  in  eating 
and  drinking  and  talking  palavers,  but  in  paying  taxes. 
And  the  enormous  import  and  export  duty  stifles  enter- 
prise and  in  the  end  defeats  its  own  purpose.  But  it 
must  be  said  that  the  French  officials,  of  all  classes,  in 
their  personal  intercourse  with  the  natives,  are  free  and 
friendly,  and  in  consequence  are  much  better  liked  than 
the  English  officials,  who,  though  usually  just,  are  often 
arrogant,  and,  while  they  care  for  the  welfare  of  the  na- 
tive, care  nothing  for  his  feelings.  One  recalls  that  in 
the  early  days  of  America  the  French  got  on  with  the 
Indians  much  better  than  the  English. 

The  German  policy  cannot  be  described  in  one  word. 
Their  policy  is  commercial ;  but  they  love  government 
for  its  own  sake  and  they  govern  far  too  much.  There  is 
an  element  of  militarism  in  their  rule  that  is  entirely  too 
rigorous  for  the  African,  and  must  ultimately  destroy 
him  unless  it  becomes  modified  through  knowledge  and 
experience.  It  is  certain  that  Germany  has  not  yet 
solved  the  problems  of  colonial  government  in  Africa. 
Some  years  have  passed  since  I  lived  in  Kamerun  and  it 
may  be  that  conditions  have  improved — though  I  doubt 
it ;  but  it  used  to  be  that  the  first  visible  institution  of 
government  in  a  new  district  was  the  whipping-post. 


X  r. 

K  Z 


A  DYING  TKIBE  55 

Whatever  Germany  does  she  does  with  all  her  might,  and 
the  activity  of  this  institution  made  the  proximity  of  a 
government  station  an  undesirable  neighbourhood  if  one 
chanced  to  have  a  human  heart.  The  outpost  of  civili- 
zation in  Africa  is  frequently  a  whipping-post. 

The  fatal  defect,  both  of  trade  and  government,  as  in- 
dependent civilizing  agencies,  is  that  they  have  forcibly 
altered  the  outward  conditions  of  the  native  without 
changing  the  inward  man.  The  African  is  somewhat  in 
the  position  of  the  poor  Indian  in  our  own  country  a  few 
generations  ago.  He  was  a  hunter  in  a  land  stripped  of 
game,  a  warrior  deprived  of  arms  and  obliged  henceforth 
to  seek  his  rights  by  legal  technicalities — while  he  was 
still  the  very  same  old  Indian,  inwardly  not  a  whit  better, 
and  by  no  means  equal  to  the  demands  and  moral  obli- 
gations which  the  new  conditions  imposed  upon  him. 
One  may  clip  the  claws  of  the  tiger  and  even  pull  his 
teeth,  but  he  is  still  a  tiger  ;  and  a  French  uniform  on  an 
African  cannibal  does  not  make  him  a  vegetarian. 


rv 

A  LIVING  REMNANT 

THE  diminishing  number  of  the  Mpongwe,  the 
hostility  of  the  climate,  the  insistence  by  the 
government  that  French  must  be  the  language 
of  the  schools,  the  great  difficulty  of  procuring  a  corps  of 
French-speaking  missionaries,  the  curse  of  rum,  the  pres- 
ence of  a  large  community  of  white  men  and  the  natural 
irresponsibility  of  the  white  man  in  Africa — all  these 
have  combined  to  limit  the  work  of  our  mission  among 
the  Mpongwe  and  to  make  it  exceedingly  difficult.  And 
besides,  there  is,  especially,  the  strong  opposition  of  the 
French  Jesuits  who  have  a  large  mission  in  Gaboon  and 
any  number  of  missionaries  that  the  work  may  demand. 
Their  hostility  makes  cooperation  impossible.  Their 
methods,  of  course,  are  Jesuitical.  We  have  the  author- 
ity of  certain  historians  for  the  statement  that  in  the  early 
days  of  missions  among  the  American  Indians  the  Jesuit 
Fathers  taught  the  Iroquois  of  Canada  that  Jesus  was  a 
big  Indian  Chief  who  scalped  women  and  children.  If 
that  was  ever  true — and  I  doubt  it — their  object  of  course 
was  to  gain  first  the  outward  adherence  of  the  Indian, 
submission  to  their  authority,  with  the  intention  of  after- 
wards instructing  him  in  the  full  content  of  Christianity, 
as  they  understood  it.  The  French  Jesuits,  perhaps  with 
the  same  good  intention,  have  baptized  nearly  all  the 
polygamy,  drunkenness,  immorality  and  fetishism  of 
Gaboon,  and  they  call  it  Christianity.  But  I  believe  it  is 
more  inaccessible  to  moral  and  spiritual  influence  than  it 
was  before. 

56 


A  LIVING  REMNANT  5Y 

One  day  shortly  after  the  news  of  the  death  of  Pope 
Leo  XIII  reached  Gaboon,  and  before  I  had  heard  of  it, 
I  was  passing  along  the  beach  when  I  heard  in  a  small 
village  the  ululu  of  women  who  were  wailing  for  the  dead. 
Their  mourning  has  usually  a  local  occasion,  and  I  had 
no  doubt  but  that  somebody  was  dead  in  their  own  vil- 
lage ;  so  I  hurried  over.  The  mourning  ceased  abruptly 
at  my  approach — a  triumph  of  curiosity  over  grief. 
When  I  asked  who  was  dead,  the  leader  answered  :  "The 
Pope  ! "  She  followed  the  answer  with  a  prolonged  howl 
in  which  they  all  joined,  and  the  tearless  mourning  pro- 
ceeded. That  is  how  I  learned  of  the  death  of  Leo  XIII. 

The  Protestant  Christians  of  Gaboon  are  a  very  small 
community ;  but  they  are  the  best  Christians,  and  the 
dearest  people,  I  have  known  in  Africa.  They  alone,  of 
the  Mpongwe,  have  good-sized  families  of  healthy  chil- 
dren. They  are  the  living  remnant  of  a  dying  tribe. 

When  I  moved  to  Baraka  the  Mpongwe  work,  the  old- 
est in  the  mission,  was  in  charge  of  a  fellow  missionary, 
Mr.  Boppell,  and  I  had  not  expected  to  take  any  part  in 
it.  But  before  the  first  year  had  passed,  Mr.  Boppell' s 
health  compelled  him  to  leave  Africa,  his  wife  having 
died  at  the  beginning  of  the  year.  From  that  time  I  had 
charge  of  the  Gaboon  Church,  besides  the  work  among 
the  Fang.  In  particular  I  undertook  the  training  of 
an  Mpongwe  candidate  for  the  ministry,  who  since 
Mr.  Boppell's  departure  was  occupying  the  pulpit  and 
preaching  very  acceptably.  This  man,  Iguwi,  I  in- 
structed four  hours  each  week ;  but  after  most  of  the 
year  had  passed,  I  felt  that  I  could  perhaps  spend  the 
time  to  better  advantage. 

Iguwi  was  the  best  educated  and  the  most  eccentric 
man  of  the  entire  Mpongwe  tribe.  He  was  a  monk  by 
nature.  The  African  is  distinctly  a  marrying  man.  He 
is  usually  very  much  married.  But  Iguwi  at  the  age  of 


58      THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

forty-five  was  still  single  and  was  therefore  a  mystery  to 
the  natives.  He  and  myself  were  the  only  two  single  men 
in  the  entire  region  of  Gaboon.  My  own  case  seemed 
strange  enough  to  the  natives.  They  never  lost  an  oppor- 
tunity of  asking  me  for  an  explanation.  1 1  Mr.  Milligan, ' ' 
says  a  wistful  and  sympathetic  inquirer,  "  you  nebber  get 
wife?" 

"No,  I  nebber  get  one." 

After  a  period  of  silence : 

"Well,  Mr.  Milligan,  why  you  nebber  get  wife!  You 
no  have  money  for  buy  her?  or  she  done  lef'  you  and  run 
'way  wid  odder  man  ?  " 

In  reply  to  these  frequent  queries,  I  gave  so  many  an- 
swers that  I  have  almost  forgotten  which  was  the  right  one. 

Iguwi  was  the  only  African  I  have  ever  known  who 
was  not  a  marrying  man.  I  have  known  other  single 
men  among  them,  but  they  were  either  busy  laying  plans 
to  run  away  with  some  other  man's  wife,  or  were  work- 
ing day  and  night  and  stealing,  according  to  opportunity, 
to  obtain  sufficient  dowry. 

Iguwi  was  extremely  bashful ;  and  in  this  also  he  was 
an  exception  to  his  race.  On  one  occasion,  an  elder  of 
the  church  and  his  wife,  intimate  friends  of  Iguwi,  in- 
vited him  to  a  chicken  breakfast.  They  lived  beside 
him  and  he  passed  their  house  several  times  a  day. 
Nevertheless,  he  replied  in  a  letter  that  he  hoped  they 
would  excuse  him  on  account  of  his  bashfulness ;  but  that 
he  would  be  very  grateful  if  they  would  send  him  his 
portion  of  the  chicken.  Iguwi  was  born  in  slavery,  and 
as  he  became  educated  and  somewhat  cultivated  he  was 
Very  sensitive  in  regard  to  his  birth.  This  indeed  may 
account  largely  for  his  bashfulness. 

But  quite  as  prominent  as  Iguwi' s  bashfulness  and 
quaint  eccentricities  was  his  transparent  sincerity  and 
goodness.  His  religion  had  not  the  African  tendency  to 


A  LIVING  EEMNANT  59 

exhaust  itself  in  mental  transports.  The  poor  always 
had  a  friend  in  him.  I  have  had  to  remonstrate  with  him 
for  giving  away  all  that  he  had.  On  one  occasion,  he 
came  to  me  and  asked  the  monthly  payment  of  his  salary 
in  advance.  I  expressed  surprise  at  his  need  of  it,  seeing 
that  only  a  few  days  before  I  had  paid  him  for  the  past 
month.  But  I  found  afterwards  that  he  had  expended 
the  whole  mouth's  payment  in  helping  a  poor  widow  to 
repair  her  house.  She  was  not  in  any  way  related  to  him  ; 
and  she  had  relations  who  were  able  to  help  her  ;  but  she 
had  a  sharp  tongue  and  had  turned  them  away  from  her, 
and  when  poverty  and  distress  came  there  was  none  to 
help  her.  The  most  degraded  of  the  heathen  believed  in 
Iguwi  and  would  never  have  doubted  his  honesty  or  truth. 
In  this  sense,  indeed,  he  was  a  "  living  epistle  "  of  Christ 
which  all  could  read  and  which  none  misunderstood. 
For  so  gentle  a  spirit  he  had  a  set  of  categories  that  were 
especially  drastic.  On  one  occasion,  when  I  asked  him 
how  many  persons  had  attended  his  village  prayer-meet- 
ing, he  replied:  "Fifteen  Christians  and  six  sinners." 
The  attendance  on  the  preceding  Sunday  was  "ninety 
Christians  and  twenty-five  sinners." 

Iguwi  was  a  remarkably  good  preacher.  He  had  been 
taught  in  the  mission  school  at  Baraka  in  the  old  days 
when  English  was  still  permitted,  but  at  best  he  received 
there  only  the  equivalent  of  a  primary-school  education. 
After  he  decided  to  study  for  the  ministry  he  received 
further  training  in  a  theological  class.  It  was  a  mystery 
to  ine  how  a  man  so  bashful  and  diffident  had  ever  chosen 
the  ministry  for  a  profession.  But  when  Iguwi  stood  on 
the  platform  his  diffidence  disappeared  entirely  and  his 
speech  was  perfectly  free  and  courageous.  The  people 
all  enjoyed  his  preaching  and  were  helped  by  it.  He 
was  so  absent-minded,  however,  in  regard  to  his  dress, 
that  a  committee  should  have  been  appointed  to  look 


60      THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFKICA 

him  over  before  he  went  into  the  pulpit,  in  order  to 
see  tbat  nothing  essential  had  been  omitted,  and  that 
his  clothes  were  fastened  on  him  securely.  A  per- 
petual problem  to  the  native  inind  is  how  to  get  clothes 
to  stay  on  without  buttons — a  problem  of  which  polite 
African  society  anxiously  awaits  the  solution.  Even 
with  buttons,  the  imported  garments  of  civilization  are 
still  uncertain,  when  worn  by  those  who  are  not  to  the 
manner  born.  Sometimes,  as  if  by  a  sudden  act  of  dis- 
enchantment, the  buttons  simultaneously  unfasten,  strings 
untie  and  clothes  fall  off.  Iguwi'  s  trousers  were  supported 
by  a  red  sash,  which  often  got  loose  and  began  to  unwind 
slowly  as  he  preached.  When  the  loose  end  of  the  sash 
touched  the  floor,  it  was  a  question  as  to  what  the  climax 
of  the  sermon  would  be.  I  finally  advised  him  either 
to  preach  shorter  sermons  or  wear  a  longer  sash. 

Iguwi' s  sermons  were  thoughtful  and  spiritual.  It  was 
strange  how  so  unpractical  a  man  could  preach  such 
practical  sermons.  They  must  have  come  to  him  by 
intuition  rather  than  by  any  exercise  of  judgment.  It 
was  also  indicative  of  a  remarkable  intellect  that  a  man 
without  any  library,  who  had  read  only  a  few  books  that 
he  had  borrowed  from  missionaries,  could  preach  sermons 
that  were  always  well  constructed  and  thoughtful.  I 
happen  to  recall  an  outline  which  he  submitted  to  me 
one  day  on  the  text,  "For  as  many  as  are  led  by  the 
Spirit  of  God,  these  are  sons  of  God."  His  three  main 
points  were:  First,  The  Spirit  leads  to  the  cross  of 
Christ ;  second,  He  leads  to  moral  conflict  (Iguwi  prob- 
ably said  to  "  war  ") ;  third,  He  leads  to  victory. 

When  I  was  leaving  Africa,  I  gladdened  Iguwi' s  heart 
with  a  set  of  Matthew  Henry's  commentaries — which 
more  than  doubled  his  library.  The  quaintness,  the 
homely  simplicity  and  spirituality  of  Matthew  Henry 
were  not  unlike  Iguwi  himself. 


A  LIVING  KEMNANT  61 

I  have  said  that  outside  the  pulpit  Iguwi,  with  all  his 
goodness,  was  utterly  unpractical.  Often,  indeed,  he 
seemed  to  lack  common  sense.  I  once  gave  him  a  book 
to  read  in  which  the  writer,  by  way  of  illustrating  the 
evanescence  of  human  glory,  referred  to  the  gorgeous 
palace  of  ice  which  was  built  by  Catherine  of  Russia,  and 
so  soon  dissolved  beneath  the  sun.  Iguwi  had  heard  of 
ice  and  knew  very  well  what  it  was,  but  being  unfamiliar 
with  its  resources  of  illustration  he  was  deeply  impressed. 
While  he  was  still  reading  this  book,  one  night  in  prayer- 
meeting  he  offered  a  prayer  in  which  I,  who  did  not  un- 
derstand the  Mpongwe  language,  was  suddenly  startled 
by  the  English  words,  ice,  palace,  Catherine,  Russia. 

Even  if  the  congregation  had  known  English  the 
illustration  would  still  have  been  unintelligible  to  them. 
For  aught  they  knew  Russia  might  be  the  name  of  an 
African  tribe,  or  a  river  in  America,  and  they  were  as 
ignorant  of  the  other  words  ;  and  since  those  four  words 
comprised  the  whole  illustration,  the  force  and  beauty  of  it 
must  have  been  somewhat  lost  upon  them.  It  occurred 
to  me  at  the  time  that  a  library,  instead  of  being  a  help 
to  Iguwi,  would  probably  have  spoiled  his  preaching. 

Iguwi  was  so  unpractical  it  seemed  best  not  to  ordain 
him.  If  the  worst  heathen  of  Gaboon  had  asked  admis- 
sion to  the  membership  of  the  church  Iguwi  would  have 
received  him  with  a  God-bless-you.  But  he  continued  to 
visit  the  sick  and  to  give  away  his  living  to  the  poor. 
His  goodness  shone  along  all  the  lowly  paths  of  service. 

A  service  in  the  Gaboon  Church  is  much  like  a  service 
in  one  of  our  best  coloured  churches  in  America.  There 
is  perfect  order  and  good  attention,  and  we  need  not 
labour  too  much  to  be  simple,  for  they  listen  intel- 
ligently. Occasionally,  however,  one  is  reminded  that  it 
is  really  Africa  and  not  America.  I  have  seen  a  man, 
in  the  first  pair  of  shoes  that  he  ever  possessed,  come  to 


church  unusually  late,  tramp  as  heavily  as  reverence 
would  allow  in  coming  up  the  aisle,  and  then  sit  in  the 
end  of  the  seat,  assuming  an  unnatural  and  uncomfortable 
position  in  order  to  keep  his  feet  in  the  aisle.  What  is 
the  use  of  spending  money  for  shoes  and  wearing  them 
with  so  much  discomfort  if  people  are  not  to  know  that 
you  have  them  ?  Shoes  for  the  African  trade  are  pur- 
posely made  with  loud-squeaking  soles  ;  the  African  will 
not  buy  shoes  that  do  not  "  talk."  Sometimes,  in  locali- 
ties further  from  the  coast,  the  head  of  the  family  will 
enter  the  church  alone,  wearing  the  shoes,  and  upon 
reaching  his  seat  will  throw  them  out  of  the  window  to 
his  wife,  who  also  will  wear  them  into  the  church,  and 
perhaps  others  of  the  family  after  her. 

Among  the  Mpongwe  it  was  deeply  impressed  upon  me 
that  the  sincerity  of  piety  is  not  to  be  judged  by  its 
fluency.  Most  white  people  who  acquire  the  art  of 
public  speaking,  especially  in  religious  meetings,  are 
obliged  to  cultivate  it ;  and  only  a  small  minority  of 
Christians  can  offer  a  prayer  in  public.  But  the  African 
speaks  with  perfect  freedom  and  entire  absence  of  self- 
consciousness.  He  can  offer  a  public  prayer  long  before 
he  becomes  Christian,  or  has  any  such  intention.  It  took 
me  a  long  time  to  put  the  proper  estimate  upon  fluency. 
One  day  I  visited  a  woman,  Nenge,  who  was  going 
further  and  further  astray  through  rum  and  other 
Mpongwe  vices.  I  was  so  greatly  impressed  by  her 
eloquent  expression  of  ideals  and  aspirations  that  I 
inferred  a  great  change  in  her  life.  I  prayed  with  her 
and  asked  her  if  she  would  pray  for  herself.  Without 
the  slightest  hesitation  she  began  a  prayer  of  considerable 
length  that  almost  brought  tears  to  my  eyes.  She  prayed 
for  herself  and  me.  But  I  found  out  afterwards  that  she 
had  not  the  least  intention  of  parting  with  either  of  her 
great  sins,  and  she  was  surprised  that  I  had  so  misunder- 


A  LIVING  KEMNANT  63 

stood  her.  She  had  not  meant  to  deceive  me.  The  truth 
is  that  any  native  could  offer  such  a  prayer.  After 
several  such  experiences  I  became  wary.  It  is  a  great 
gift,  however,  when  it  is  truly  consecrated.  An 
Mpongwe  prayer-meeting  never  lags. 

The  Gaboon  Church  in  its  early  history  was  ministered 
to  for  many  years  by  Toko  Truman,  probably  the  most 
eloquent  native  preacher  who  was  ever  trained  in  the 
West  Africa  Mission.  He  was  entirely  blind  for  seven 
years  before  he  died.  The  first  time  I  visited  Gaboon 
Toko  was  still  living.  I  was  on  my  way  home  to  America 
and  was  detained  several  days  at  Gaboon,  waiting  for 
a  French  steamer.  I  had  heard  much  of  Toko,  and  I 
visited  him  every  day.  Among  ever  so  many  incidents 
of  interest  which  he  related  I  recall  his  reply  to  a  certain 
white  trader,  a  very  profane  man,  who  took  pleasure  in 
mocking  at  Toko's  faith  and  self-denial.  One  day  the 
trader  remarked  that  if  there  was  any  such  place  as 
heaven,  he  himself  was  as  sure  of  an  entrance  there  as 
anybody. 

Toko  replied :  "I  have  read  the  words  of  Jesus,  '  Not 
every  one  that  saith  unto  Me,  Lord,  Lord,  shall  enter  into 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,'  that  is  to  say,  not  even  all  those 
who  pray  shall  enter  ;  and  the  chances  would  seem  to  be 
small  for  you,  who  do  not  pray  at  all.  Heaven  is  not  as 
cheap  as  you  think." 

Izuri  is  an  elderly  woman,  a  member  in  the  Mpongwe 
Church,  whose  charity  towards  the  Fang  of  the  interior 
presents  a  striking  contrast  to  the  spirit  of  the  coast  peo- 
ple generally.  I  have  already  said  that,  in  the  mind  of 
the  coast  people,  the  Fang  belong  to  the  orders  of  lower 
animals,  and  that  the  coast  women  are  ashamed  to  be 
heard  speaking  Fang,  though  they  all  speak  it ;  for  they 
trade  with  them  daily.  Izuri,  when  I  had  charge  of  the 
Mpongwe  Church,  was  sewing  for  a  trading-house  one 


64:     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

whole  day  each  week,  thereby  earning  twenty  cents,  which 
she  gave  to  help  support  a  native  missionary  among  the 
Fang.  The  Fang  come  down  the  river  long  distances  to 
sell  food  and  building  material  in  the  Gaboon  market. 
They  must  travel  with  the  tide,  and  often  they  remain  at 
the  coast  all  night.  It  is  sometimes  hard  for  them  to 
obtain  shelter ;  and,  moreover,  they  are  subjected  to 
every  form  of  temptation  by  those  who  would  get  from 
them  the  money  or  goods  they  have  procured  for  their 
produce.  Izuri  might  often  be  seen  going  along  the 
beach  in  the  evening,  inviting  these  homeless  people  to 
her  town  where  she  gave  them  shelter  in  a  house  which 
she  owned  but  did  not  occupy.  And  often  in  the  even- 
ing, sitting  down  in  their  midst,  she  would  talk  to  them 
in  their  own  language,  fairly  scandalizing  her  neigh- 
bours. I  presume  Izuri  still  continues  her  ministry  to 
the  poor  Fang. 

An  Mpongwe  man,  Ntyango,  showed  this  same  spirit 
towards  the  Fang  and  went  among  them  and  preached  to 
them.  He  died  about  the  time  I  went  to  Gaboon,  and 
was  buried  in  the  mission  graveyard.  Some  years  after- 
wards the  workmen  were  cutting  grass  in  the  graveyard. 
Among  them  was  a  Fang  man  named  Biyoga,  whom 
Ntyango  had  taught  to  read  when  he  was  a  small  boy. 
As  Biyoga  was  cutting  grass  and  occasionally  spelling 
out  the  names  on  the  tombstones  he  found  Ntyango's 
name  on  one  of  them.  Sacred  memories  stirred  the  heart 
of  the  wild  Fang.  The  next  day  he  came  to  me  and  told 
me  that  since  the  days,  long  ago,  when  he  had  known 
Ntyango  he  had  never  met  another  man  like  him.  All 
the  time  since  finding  his  name  and  while  working  beside 
his  grave  he  had  been  thinking  of  him,  recalling  his 
kindness  to  the  Fang,  especially  to  the  children,  and  his 
Christian  teaching,  and  now  he  wished  only  to  be  the 
kind  of  man  that  Ntyango  was. 


A  LIVING  REMNANT  65 

.  I  think  of  Sara  whose  honesty  and  goodness  had  beau- 
tified her  face.  Left  a  widow  with  five  young  children, 
and  very  poor,  she  often  felt  the  burden  of  care  too  heavy 
for  her  shoulders ;  but  she  went  bravely  on.  When  her 
daughter  was  married  and  the  customary  dowry  of  forty 
dollars  was  offered  Sara  by  the  young  husband,  she  re- 
fused to  take  it,  believing  that  it  was  not  in  accord  with 
Christian  principle.  The  king  of  the  Mpongwe  tribe, 
being  jealous  for  old  customs,  resented  Sara's  action,  and 
having  invited  her  to  his  town  made  her  a  prisoner, 
thinking  to  intimidate  her ;  but  he  failed  even  to  pick  a 
quarrel  with  her,  and  after  a  few  days  he  released  her. 

I  think  of  Lucina,  than  whom  the  Mpongwe  Church 
never  had  a  more  faithful  member.  Lucina' s  husband, 
preferring  a  dissolute  life  of  drunkenness  and  polygamy, 
left  her  with  five  young  children.  Indeed,  when  he  took 
other  wives  he  had  to  leave  her  ;  for  her  character  em- 
braced the  sensibility  as  well  as  the  faithfulness  of  Chris- 
tian wifehood.  She  brought  up  her  children  under  great 
difficulties,  working  for  them  like  a  very  slave ;  and 
though  she  was  young,  educated  and  extremely  attractive, 
the  breath  of  scandal  never  tarnished  her  reputation. 
When  her  husband  accepted  a  dowry  for  their  daughter 
and  sent  a  portion  of  it  to  Lucina,  she  sent  it  back  to  him 
saying  that  if  he  had  sold  their  daughter  for  a  price,  her 
conscience  would  not  allow  her  to  share  it  with  him. 

And,  among  others,  there  was  Sonia,  a  white-haired 
old  man  with  the  heart  of  a  child.  Sonia  had  as  many 
stories  as  Uncle  Remus ;  but  his  best  stories  were  the  in- 
cidents and  adventures  of  his  own  life. 

One  still  night  as  we  lay  at  anchor,  in  the  middle  of 
the  swift-rolling  river,  with  the  moonshine  lying  in  silver 
ringlets  across  its  surface,  the  boat-boys  asked  Soiiia  to 
tell  them  a  story.  As  usual  his  first  reply  was  that  he 
did  not  know  any  stories — excepting  a  few  foolish  old 


66      THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

stories  that  they  had  heard  till  they  were  tired  of  them. 
But  at  length — as  usual — he  thought  of  one,  and  then  an- 
other, and  still  another. 

He  first  told  a  typical  story  about  the  tortoise  and  his 
creditors.  The  tortoise  in  African  folk-lore  is  notorious 
for  unscrupulous  cunning. 

Once  upon  a  time  there  was  a  great  famine  in  the  land 
and  food  was  very  dear.  So  the  tortoise  called  upon  his 
friends,  the  worm,  the  cock,  the  bushcat,  the  leopard 
and  the  hunter,  and  borrowed  from  each  a  box  of  brass 
rods,  promising  to  pay  them  at  the  end  of  the  season  on 
different  days.  On  the  day  appointed  the  worm  appeared 
and  asked  for  the  payment  of  the  loan.  Then  the  tortoise 
asked  him  to  wait  until  he  should  go  and  fetch  the  money. 
So  the  tortoise  went  off  to  get  the  money,  and  the  next  day 
he  came  back  with  the  cock,  who  also  came  according  to 
appointment  for  the  payment  of  his  loan.  Then  the  worm 
and  the  cock  met,  and  the  cock  ate  the  worm. 

Then  the  cock  asked  for  his  money  and  the  tortoise 
asked  him  to  wait  until  he  should  go  and  fetch  it.  And 
he  went  off  again,  and  came  back  next  day  with  the  bush- 
cat,  who  had  come  for  the  payment  of  his  loan.  Then 
the  cock  and  the  bushcat  met  and  the  bushcat  killed  the 
cock  and  ate  him. 

Then  the  bushcat  asked  for  his  money  and  the  tortoise 
asked  him  to  wait  until  he  should  go  and  fetch  it.  And 
he  went  off  again,  and  came  back  the  next  day  with  the 
leopard,  and  the  leopard  killed  the  bushcat  and  ate  it. 

Then  the  leopard  asked  for  his  money,  and  the  tortoise 
asked  him  to  wait  until  he  should  go  and  fetch  it.  And 
he  went  off  again,  and  came  back  with  the  hunter.  And 
the  hunter  and  the  leopard  killed  each  other. 

Then  the  tortoise  laughed  at  them  all  for  being  fools. 
And  the  moral  is  that  it  is  not  wise  to  lend  to  a  man  lest 
he  may  wish  you  evil  and  seek  to  kill  you.  But  Sonia 


A  LIVING  REMNANT  67 

reminds  the  boys  that  the  story  contains  only  the  wisdom 
of  the  heathen,  and  that  Jesus  teaches  us  to  help  those 
who  need  our  help  even  if  we  should  lose  by  it. 

After  various  comments  on  the  moral  of  the  story,  to 
the  effect  that  "loan  oft  loses  both  itself  and  friend," 
Souia  tells  a  story  of  two  friends  and  a  wag. 

There  were  two  friends  who  had  been  friends  from  child- 
hood, and  who  were  more  than  brothers  to  each  other  ; 
and  these  two  friends  had  never  been  known  to  quarrel. 
Now  there  was  a  wag  in  a  neighbouring  town,  who  one 
day,  when  he  heard  the  people  talking  about  these  two 
friends  who  had  never  quarrelled,  declared  that  he  would 
make  them  quarrel.  That  day  he  put  on  a  coat  of  which 
one  side  was  blue  and  the  other  side  red  and  then  walked 
down  the  road  that  ran  between  the  two  men's  houses. 
In  the  evening  the  friends  met  as  usual  and  one  of  them 
said  :  "  Did  you  see  the  wag  pass  to-day  with  a  red  coat 
on!" 

"Yes,"  said  the  other,  "  I  saw  him  pass ;  but  it  wasn't 
a  red  coat.  It  was  blue." 

"I  am  sure  it  was  red,"  said  the  first. 

"  But  it  wasn't.     It  was  blue,"  said  the  other. 

And  so  they  disputed  until  one  of  them  called  the  other 
a  fool ;  and  then  they  fought. 

"  Take  that,"  said  one. 

"And  that,"  said  the  other. 

So  they  fought  until  their  wives  came  running  to  them 
and  parted  them.  But  they  went  to  their  houses  with 
heavy  hearts.  For  they  had  been  friends  for  a  lifetime 
and  now  their  friendship  was  broken.  And  all  the  peo- 
ple felt  sorrow.  But  the  wag,  when  he  came  along, 
laughed  and  told  them  how  he  had  worn  a  coat  which 
was  red  on  one  side  and  blue  on  the  other.  And  the 
friends  and  their  wives  ever  afterwards  hated  the  wag. 

Sonia's  stories  were  most  interesting  when  he  recounted 


68      THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

real  incidents  in  his  own  life.  When  a  young  man,  he 
told  us,  he  had  lived  as  a  trader  at  this  Fang  town  op- 
posite which  we  were  anchored.  The  noise  of  drumming, 
dancing  and  singing  had  ceased  and  the  town  was  wrapped 
in  untroubled  sleep.  There  is  no  stillness  in  the  world 
like  that  of  an  African  town  in  the  night. 

Sonia  told  us  about  a  battle  he  had  witnessed,  which 
was  fought  upon  the  river,  at  this  very  place  where  we 
lay  ;  a  battle  between  this  town  and  a  town  which  then 
stood  on  the  opposite  bank,  but  of  which  nothing  now 
remained.  This  town  was  already  old  at  the  time  of  the 
war  but  the  other  was  new,  the  people  having  come 
recently  from  the  far  interior,  being  driven  forth  by  the 
hostility  of  more  powerful  clans  behind.  There  was  no 
quarrel  between  the  towns ;  but  the  people  of  the  old 
town  thought  that  it  would  be  good  policy  to  give  their 
new  neighbours  a  whipping  upon  their  arrival  in  order  to 
insure  a  wholesome  respect. 

First,  I  believe,  they  stole  a  woman.  Then  followed  a 
guerrilla  warfare,  in  which  each  side  killed  as  they  had  op- 
portunity, waylaying  individuals,  or  rushing  from  ambush 
npon  a  party  of  venturesome  stragglers  from  the  enemy's 
town.  In  this  way  a  number  were  killed  on  each  side  ; 
and  the  war,  which  was  first  undertaken  more  as  a  vain 
exploit  or  adventure  than  from  any  serious  motive,  was 
soon  prosecuted  with  feelings  of  deadly  hate  and  a  pur- 
pose of  reveoge.  Every  night,  from  each  town,  the  wail 
of  mourning  for  the  dead  was  wafted  across  the  river ; 
and  curses  were  mingled  with  the  mourning. 

At  length  one  canoe  attacked  another  in  the  river, 
where  they  had  been  fishing.  Immediately  other  canoes 
came  to  their  help,  and  still  others,  ever  so  many  of  them, 
pushing  off  rapidly  from  each  side  until  all  the  men  of 
the  two  towns,  young  and  old,  were  in  the  middle  of  the 
river  where  they  fought  to  a  finish.  When  fighting  in 


A  LIVING  KEMNANT  69 

canoes,  whatever  other  weapons  they  may  have,  they 
carry  a  small  battle-ax,  which  is  used  especially  to  pre- 
vent the  capsizing  of  the  canoe  by  those  who  are  already 
in  the  water.  Sonia  told  how  that,  again  and  again,  at 
a  blow  they  severed  a  man's  hand,  or  completely  disabled 
him.  They  swim  so  well  that  they  could  still  make  a 
strong  fight  after  being  capsized.  The  battle  was  long, 
and  the  river  ran  red  with  their  blood.  Those  who  were 
killed  were  carried  by  the  current  out  to  the  sea  to  feed 
the  sharks. 

The  people  of  the  new  town  lost.  Those  of  them  who 
were  left  pulled  down  their  town  and  moved  to  another 
place.  In  a  few  years  nothing  remained  of  it  but  one  or 
two  skeletons  with  the  grass  growing  through  their  ribs. 
But  for  years  afterwards  the  superstitious  native  passing 
along  the  river  in  the  dead  of  night  heard  again  the 
noise  of  battle — fierce  cries  and  dying  groans.  And 
whenever  this  sound  is  heard,  they  say,  again  the  river 
runs  red  like  blood. 

One  incident  of  the  war,  prior  to  the  final  battle,  I  re- 
call, as  Sonia  told  it  that  night. 

The  people  of  the  old  town  captured  a  man  of  the  other 
side,  and  his  son,  a  little  boy.  They  bound  the  father, 
and  before  his  eyes  deliberately  killed  his  son — and  ate 
his  flesh.  The  main  motive  of  cannibalism,  under  such 
circumstances,  would  be  neither  wanton  cruelty  nor  a 
vicious  appetite,  but,  fetishism.  By  eating  one  of  their 
number  they  render  the  enemy  powerless  to  do  them  any 
further  injury.  Some  time  afterwards  they  slew  the 
father.  But  already  they  had  broken  his  heart,  and  with 
hands  uplifted  he  welcomed  the  death-blow. 

The  emotion  with  which  old  Sonia  told  this  whole 
story  indicated  how  his  own  heart  had  been  wrung.  He 
said  not  a  word  about  any  effort  of  his  to  dissuade  the 
people  from  their  cruelty  ;  but  I  knew  him  well,  and  I 


70      THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

/ 

was  confident  that  the  part  he  had  taken  was  not  unhe- 
roic.  That  is  a  story  that  was  never  told. 

Sonia  in  his  latter  years,  between  long  intervals  of 
sickness,  was  a  missionary  to  the  Fang.  They  all  re- 
garded him  with  love  and  reverence.  The  oldest  savage 
among  them,  and  the  wildest,  were  as  children  when  they 
addressed  him. 

In  the  little  graveyard,  on  the  mission  hill  at  Baraka, 
are  the  graves  of  those  who  have  thought  that  life  itself 
was  not  too  great  a  price  to  pay  for  the  saving  of  such 
men  and  women  from  degradation.  Henry  Drummond 
said  that  while  in  Africa  he  had  been  in  an  atmosphere 
of  death  all  the  time,  and  that  he  realized,  as  never  be- 
fore, the  awful  fact  of  death  and  its  desolation  as  some- 
thing calling  for  an  answer.  One  of  my  first  experiences 
in  Gaboon  reminded  me  that  I  was  again  in  the  land  of 
death,  when  I  assisted  in  the  burial  service  of  the  beauti- 
ful young  wife  and  bride  of  a  fellow  missionary,  less  than 
three  months  after  their  arrival  in  Africa.  So  far  away 
from  home  we  enter  deeply  into  each  other's  sorrows.  I 
was  standing  by  in  the  last  hour,  when  with  pale  face  the 
stricken  but  silent  husband  stepped  to  the  open  door  and 
nervously  plucked  a  flower  growing  there,  a  large  crimson 
hibiscus,  the  beauty  of  the  tropics,  which  he  laid  on  the 
pillow  beside  his  unconscious  wife,  and  the  two  broken 
flowers  drooped  and  died  together,  while  the  shadows 
darkened  around  us  and  the  night  came  on.  In  the  un- 
conscious act  there  was  something  more  affecting  than  in 
any  words  of  grief.  It  seemed  to  relate  this  death  to  all 
death  everywhere,  in  a  world  where  forms  of  life  appear 
only  to  vanish  into  darkness  and  day  hurries  to  the  night. 

Soon  after  our  patient  sufferer  had  ceased  to  breathe, 
in  the  midst  of  the  stillness  that  followed  the  prolonged 
struggle  with  the  fever,  a  storm  that  had  been  gathering 
with  the  darkness  broke  forth  with  great  violence  that 


A  LIVING  REMNANT  Yl 

shook  the  house.  I  had  only  arrived  in  Africa.  I  went 
out  into  the  storm  unspeakably  oppressed  with  doubt,  to 
which  it  was  a  kind  of  relief.  Was  it  a  noble  sacrifice  t 
or  an  appalling  waste  ?  In  the  intervals  of  the  storm, 
and  mingling  with  it,  there  came  the  sound  of  a  dirge, 
the  hopeless  death-wail,  from  a  village  close  by,  where 
the  poor  natives  were  mourning  for  one  of  their  number 
who  had  died  that  day,  a  young  man  at  whose  bed  I  had 
stood  a  few  hours  earlier,  the  only  sou  of  a  heart-broken 
mother.  Those  who  have  always  known  the  words  of 
One  who  brought  life  and  immortality  to  light  cannot 
realize  the  heathen  view  of  death,  and  the  abysmal  dark- 
ness of  the  invisible  world.  There  is  no  sound  so  well 
known  in  Africa,  and  none  that  so  haunts  the  memory  in 
after  years,  as  the  mourning  dirge,  in  which  with  united 
voices  they  chant  their  sorrow  for  the  dead — their  despair 
and  desolation  ;  the  sound  that  is  borne  upon  every  night- 
wind  and  becomes  to  the  imagination  the  very  voice  of 
Africa.  The  groaning  of  the  palm-trees  in  the  darkness 
of  that  night,  as  they  bent  beneath  the  tempest,  and  in 
the  distance  the  sound  of  the  troubled  sea,  were  the  fit- 
ting accompaniment  and  interlude.  But  in  our  house, 
beside  our  dead,  there  was  light — and  doubt  was  van- 
quished. There,  hope  was  whispering  to  a  stricken  heart 
sweet  promises  of  life ;  and  faith  was  saying  :  "Let  not 
your  heart  be  troubled,  neither  let  it  be  afraid." 


V 

AFRICAN  MUSIC 

IT  was  many  years  ago,  among  the  Bulu,  in  Kamernn. 
Dr.  Good  and  myself  were  holding  a  religious  serv- 
ice in  the  town  of  a  great  chief,  Abesula,  whose 
thirty-five  wives  were  seated  around  him.  After  we 
had  sung  several  hymns  Dr.  Good  began  to  preach, 
but  had  not  proceeded  as  far  as  secondly  when  Abesula, 
interrupting,  exclaimed :  "  Say,  white  man,  won't  you 
stop  talking  and  sing  again  ?  And  I  wish  you  would 
dance  with  your  singing  ;  for  I  don't  care  for  singing 
without  dancing  ;  and  I  don't  like  preaching  at  all." 

We  found  that  Abesula' s  whole  family  were  united  in 
this  preference  for  comic  opera.  But  Dr.  Good  and  I 
were  in  hopeless  disagreement  as  to  which  of  us  should 
do  the  dancing.  Besides,  the  Africans  themselves  are 
expert  'dancers  and  qualified  judges ;  and  if  our  music 
had  "charms  to  soothe  the  savage  breast,"  I  am  afraid 
that  our  dancing  would  have  made  more  savages  than  it 
would  have  soothed. 

After  a  few  months  among  the  Bulu  I  had  an  organ 
brought  up  from  the  coast,  a  baby-organ,  which  when 
folded  a  man  could  carry  on  his  head.  The  people  had 
heard  that  something  wonderful  was  coming  with  the  next 
caravan  ;  and  on  the  day  of  its  arrival  it  seemed  as  if  the 
whole  Bulu  tribe  had  assembled  on  our  hill.  Having  un- 
packed the  organ  I  set  it  on  the  porch  while  they  all  stood 
on  the  ground  below.  The  tension  of  suspense  during  the 
slow  progress  of  preparation  was  a  test  of  endurance.  At 

T2 


AFRICAN  MUSIC  73 

last,  everything  being  ready,  I  sat  down  at  the  organ, 
filled  the  bellows,  and  amidst  profound  silence  suddenly 
sounded  a  loud  chord.  Instantly  the  crowd  bolted. 
Nothing  was  to  be  seen  but  disappearing  legs.  The 
men,  being  more  fleet  of  limb,  reached  the  hiding-places 
first ;  then  the  women  and  larger  children,  the  smaller 
children  being  left  to  their  fate.  To  them  the  organ  was 
of  course  a  fetish,  and  full  of  talking  spirits.  Gradually 
they  came  out  from  their  hiding-places.  Then,  as  fear 
subsided,  each  one  began  to  laugh  at  the  others  and  to 
tell  his  ancestors  all  about  it.  In  the  ensuing  noise  the 
organ  had  a  rest.  They  soon  became  devotedly  fond  of 
it,  and  it  was  a  great  help  in  our  mission  work.  Eegu- 
larly  on  Sunday  morning  after  the  service  I  would  set  the 
organ  on  the  porch  and  play  for  them  until  I  was  tired — 
and  that  was  not  very  long ;  for  in  that  climate  the  bel- 
lows were  soon  in  such  condition  that  the  playing  was 
prominently  spectacular,  done  with  the  feet,  reinforced 
by  all  the  muscles  of  the  body.  In  after  years,  among 
the  Fang  of  the  French  Congo,  I  always  carried  an  organ 
with  me. 

To  all  the  interior  natives,  Bulu  and  Fang,  and  even 
to  the  coast  tribe  of  Batanga,  my  playing  of  that  little 
organ  was  much  the  most  wonderful  thing  about  me.  In 
going  to  Africa  a  second  time,  after  four  years'  absence, 
on  my  way  to  Gaboon  I  landed  at  Batanga  for  a  few 
hours.  The  natives  remembered  me  as  having  a  beard, 
and  I  was  now  shaved.  But  there  was  with  me  a  fellow 
traveller  who  had  just  such  a  beard  as  mine  had  been  ; 
so  that,  to  the  natives,  he  looked  more  like  me  than  I  did 
myself.  They  of  course  mistook  him  for  me;  and  the 
stranger  got  a  friendly  reception  which  pleased  him  as 
much  as  it  surprised  him.  He  said  he  never  had  met 
such  friendly  natives.  But  upon  my  protest  they  dis- 
covered their  mistake  and  began  to  pay  me  some  atten- 


74     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

tion.  I  insisted  that  they  had  forgotten  me  and  that  my 
feelings  were  hurt ;  at  which  they  made  the  most  excited 
remonstrance.  They  remembered  that  I  had  played  the 
organ.  One  of  the  boys,  in  his  eagerness  to  convince  me 
that  they  had  not  forgotten  me,  began  to  imitate  my  mo- 
tions at  the  organ,  which  he  exaggerated  to  an  outlandish 
caricature  in  which  hands,  feet,  head,  mouth  and  eyes 
were  equally  active,  saying  as  he  performed :  "  Look 
me,  Mr.  Milligan ;  this  be  you."  Following  his  example, 
they  all  engaged  in  a  performance  that  would  have  scan- 
dalized any  company  of  self-respecting  monkeys,  saying 
the  while  :  "  This  be  you,  Mr.  Milligan  ;  this  be  you." 

My  fellow  traveller,  who  may  have  felt  somewhat  cha- 
grined at  finding  that  the  hearty  reception  accorded  him 
was  intended  for  me,  turned  to  me  and  made  some  re- 
marks that  have  no  rightful  place  here. 

We  are  all  familiar  with  the  legend  that  Pythagoras 
invented  the  first  musical  instrument  after  listening  to 
the  blacksmith's  hammers.  Longfellow  repeats  it  in  the 
poem, 


"  As  great  Pythagoras  of  yore, 
Standing  beside  the  blacksmith's  door, 
And  hearing  the  hammers,  as  they  smote 
The  anvils  with  a  different  note, 
Stole  from  the  varying  tones  that  hang 
Vibrant  on  every  iron  tongue 
The  secret  of  the  sounding  wire, 
And  formed  the  seven-corded  lyre." 


Shakespeare  also  refers  to  this  reputed  origin  of  music 
in  "The  Two  Noble  Kinsmen."  Pirithous,  relating  the 
death  of  Arcite,  tells  how  he  rode  the  pavement  on  a 
horse  so  black  that  the  superstitious  would  have  feared 
to  buy  him,  a  prancing  steed  whose  iron-shod  feet  seemed 


AFRICAN  MUSIC  75 

only  to  touch  the  stones — as  if  counting  them,  rather 
than  trampling  them,  and  — 

"  thus  went  counting 

The  flinty  pavement,  dancing  as  'twere  to  the  musio 
His  own  hoofs  made — for,  as  they  say,  from  iron 
Came  music's  origin." 

Nevertheless,  this  story — like  many  others  that  cluster 
about  the  name  of  Pythagoras,  as,  for  instance,  that  he 
was  seen  in  two  cities  at  the  same  time — is  seriously 
vulnerable,  and  is  probably  pure  myth,  without  enough 
of  fact  to  qualify  as  a  legend.  The  obvious  objection,  that 
various  hammers  striking  upon  an  anvil  give  out,  not 
different  notes,  but  the  same — for  the  notes  vary  with  the 
anvil  and  not  with  the  hammers — Longfellow  meets  by 
using  the  plural,  anvils. 

In  the  latest  of  Mr.  H.  E.  KrehbiePs  learned  and  inter- 
esting books,  The  Pianoforte  and  Its  Music,  the  writer 
holds  that  the  first  of  all  stringed  instruments  was  the 
bow.  Every  boy  knows  the  musical  twang  of  the  bow- 
string at  the  moment  that  the  arrow  flies.  In  the 
Iliad,  Apollo,  the  god  of  music,  is  also  the  god  of  arch- 
ery, and  is  called  the  " bearer  of  the  silver  bow." 
Mr.  Krehbiel  also  recalls  the  passage  in  the  Odyssey 
in  which  Ulysses  tries  his  bow,  after  the  suitors  of  Penel- 
ope, one  by  one,  had  tried  and  failed  ;  and  when  Ulysses 
drew  the  arrow  to  its  head  and  let  it  go,  the  string  rang 
shrill  and  sweet  as  the  note  of  a  swallow.  This  theory  of 
the  origin  of  musical  instruments  is  strikingly  supported 
by  the  instruments  in  present  use  among  the  savage  and 
primitive  tribes  of  West  Africa. 

A  Kombe  cook,  at  Gaboon,  each  day  after  dinner,  lay 
down  for  a  nap  and  played  himself  to  sleep  upon  an  in- 
strument which  was  nothing  but  a  bow  with  a  single 
string.  The  string  was  made  of  a  certain  runner,  the 


76     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFEICA 

fibre  of  which  is  very  tough  and  gives  a  resonant  note. 
The  cook  found  that  by  plucking  the  string  with  a  metal, 
rather  than  with  his  fingers,  he  produced  a  better  note  ; 
so  for  this  purpose  he  regularly  used  the  bread-knife  and 
took  it  to  bed  with  him.  When  I  first  heard  this  un- 
classical  music  I  thought  he  was  playing  on  a  Jew's-harp. 

The  native  improves  this  instrument  when  he  attaches 
to  one  end  of  it  a  gourd  or  calabash,  in  the  shape  of  a 
bowl,  to  augment  the  sound — the  first  sound-box.  When 
he  plays  he  places  the  flat  side  of  the  gourd  against  his 
chest.  He  improves  the  instrument  immensely  when  he 
adds  three  strings,  making  four  in  all,  successively  shorter. 
The  four  strings  pass  over  a  central  bridge,  which  is 
notched  at  different  heights  for  the  different  strings. 
This  makes  eight  strings  and  produces  eight  different 
notes.  The  gourd,  or  sound-box,  is  placed  in  the  middle 
of  the  bow,  opposite  the  bridge.  This  instrument  is 
usually  made  from  the  midrib  of  a  palm-leaf.  The  bent 
midrib  itself  forms  the  bow ;  while  the  strings  are  the 
loosened  fibres  of  its  own  tough  skin.  These  are  made 
taut  by  the  vertical  bridge,  and  their  vibrating  length  is 
regulated  by  strong  bands  passing  around  the  ends  of  the 
strings  and  the  bow. 

Another  native  instrument  is  a  harp,  both  in  shape  and 
in  principle.  The  upper  end  is  a  bow,  or  half-bow  ;  the 
lower  end  is  an  oblong  sound-box  covered  with  a  per- 
forated skin — monkey-skin  or  goatskin.  The  upper 
ends  of  the  strings  are  attached  to  pegs  inserted  in  the 
bow,  by  which  the  strings  may  be  tuned.  There  is  also 
a  five-stringed  lyre,  with  a  sound-box  somewhat  like  the 
harp,  but  instead  of  a  single  bow  at  the  end,  there  are  five 
bent  fingers,  each  with  its  string.  There  is  a  very 
rudimentary  dulcimer,  and  a  xylophone,  and  various 
modifications  of  the  instruments  which  I  have  described. 

The  favourite  of  all  these  instruments,  and  the  one  of 


AFRICAN  MUSIC  77 

largest  musical  capacity,  is  the  harp.  The  native  uses  it 
most  frequently  to  accompany  his  singing.  There  are 
professional  singers  among  them,  whose  position  is  some- 
what analogous  to  that  of  minstrels  several  centuries  ago 
in  Europe.  The  songs  of  these  professional  singers  are 
usually  lengthy  ballads — traditional  tales  in  lyric  form. 
The  monotony  of  the  solo,  which  is  a  dramatic  recitative, 
is  broken  by  a  somewhat  regular  and  frequent  choral  re- 
sponse. The  singer  half  closes  his  eyes  and  sways  his 
body  as  he  sings.  He  seems  oblivious  of  time  and  place. 
I  have  sometimes  thought  that  there  was  an  element  of 
hypnotism  in  his  influence  upon  his  audience.  Upon  the 
instrument  he  plays  a  running  and  unvaried  accompani- 
ment to  his  song.  But  it  would  be  a  great  mistake  to 
judge  the  song,  or  the  African  capacity  for  melody,  by 
the  miserably  inadequate  instrument.  The  singer's  voice 
far  exceeds  the  instrument,  both  in  range  and  in  the  divi- 
sion of  intervals. 

The  fact  is,  however,  that  the  only  one  of  his  musical 
instruments  which  the  African  regards  with  profound 
respect  is  his  dearly-beloved  tom-tom — the  drum  to  which 
he  dances.  From  this  some  have  inferred  that,  to  the 
African  savage,  rhythm  without  melody  is  music,  which 
of  course  is  a  mistake.  It  is  even  doubtful  whether  his 
sense  of  melody  be  not  altogether  as  keen  as  his  sense  of 
rhythm,  though  not  equally  appealed  to.  The  drum  is 
very  easy  to  construct ;  but  not  so  the  harp  or  viol ;  and 
the  Negro  is  so  lacking  in  mechanical  genius  that  he  can- 
not invent  an  instrument  capable  of  reproducing  his 
melodies.  Therefore  the  melodies  are  always  vocal. 
They  do  not  dance  to  the  drum,  by  itself ;  for  they  in- 
variably sing  when  they  dance.  Dancing  without  sing- 
ing is  almost  impossible ;  at  least  I  have  never  seen  it 
during  seven  years  in  Africa.  They  are  passionately 
fond  of  singing  and  have  good  voices.  The  voices  of  the 


78     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

men  are  much  better  than  those  of  the  women  and  have 
sometimes  the  resonant  sonority  of  a  deep  organ -tone,  or 
an  exquisite  melancholy,  which  it  is  to  be  hoped  they 
may  never  lose  through  future  conditions  of  civilization. 

The  native  songs  are  elementary  but  fascinating.  Few 
white  men,  however,  can  sing  them ;  for  the  scales,  or 
tone-systems,  upon  which  most  of  them  are  based,  are  en- 
tirely different  from  our  major  and  minor  modes.  Their  J 
scales  have  not  a  distinct  tonic,  that  is,  a  basal  tone  from 
which  the  others  in  the  system  are  derived,  as,  for  in- 
stance, the  first  tone,  do,  of  our  major  scale.  It  follows 
that  the  cadences  of  their  music  are  not  clearly  defined  ; 
or,  as  a  friend  of  mine  would  say,  "  They  don't  taper  off 
to  an  end  like  ours." 

Although  their  music  is  so  difficult  for  the  white  man,  \ 
the  natives  learn  our  music  with  astonishing  ease,  even 
their  oldest  men  and  women,  and  sing  it  well — if  they 
have  half  a  chance.  But  is  it  surprising  that — since  our 
scales  are  new  to  them — they  at  first  need  a  little  careful 
training,  or  at  least  the  lead  of  a  clear-toned  organ 
reasonably  well  played?  Otherwise  they  are  not  un- 
likely to  substitute  the  tones  of  their  own  scales.  The  re- 
sult is  indescribable.  Imagine  a  large  congregation  sing- 
ing the  doxology  with  all  their  might,  and  about  half  of 
them  singing  it  in  G  minor  instead  of  G  major  !  But  the 
comparison  is  inadequate.  The  singing  in  some  mission 
congregations  is  enough  to  cause  a  panic.  The  first  Sun- 
day that  I  spent  in  Africa  was  at  Batanga,  where  the  peo- 
ple had  learned  the  hymns  before  any  white  missionaries 
went  to  live  among  them.  I  was  near  the  church  when 
the  large  congregation  started  the  first  hymn.  It  was  a 
translation  of  "God  is  the  Eefuge  of  His  saints,  When 
storms  of  sharp  distress  i nvade. "  The  tune  of  this  storm  of 
sharp  distress  was  good  old  Ward,  but,  alas,  in  such  a  state 
of  decomposition  that  I  did  not  recognize  it  until  they  had 


AFKICAN  MUSIC  79 

sung  it  through  twice.  And  so  it  was  with  many  of  the 
tunes.  Their  own  music  has  no  extended  range  of  high 
and  low  notes  ;  and  so,  in  these  hymns,  whenever  they 
came  to  a  high  passage,  or  even  a  single  high  note,  they 
sang  it  an  octave  lower,  and  the  low  notes  they  sang  an 
octave  higher.  It  was  a  vocal  feat,  and  no  audience  of 
white  people  could  have  done  it  without  training  ;  but  it 
did  not  sound  much  like  music,  still  less  like  worship. 

So  great  a  musician  as  Dvorak,  when  he  came  to  Amer- 
ica, was  profoundly  moved  by  the  original  melodies  of 
the  American  Negro,  and  became  their  enthusiastic  cham- 
pion. Indeed,  they  inspired  the  most  beautiful  of  all  his 
symphonies,  the  one  entitled,  "Aus  der  Neuen  "Welt." 
I  do  not  refer,  of  course,  to  the  so-called  Negro  melodies 
composed  by  white  men.  Some  of  these  are  beautiful ; 
but  they  are  not  Negro  melodies.  They  do  not  express 
the  Negro's  emotional  life  and  he  does  not  care  much  for 
them.  Those  wonderful  songs  of  the  Fisk  Jubilee  Singers 
are  the  real  thing.  Some  of  those  very  melodies  may  have 
originated  in  Africa.  Others  are  more  developed  than 
any  that  I  heard  in  Africa  ;  but  they  are  very  similar, 
and  they  use  the  same  strange  scales,  which  makes  them 
unfamiliar  to  our  ears  and  difficult  to  acquire.  Among 
them,  I  really  believe,  are  occasional  motives  as  capable 
of  development  as  those  of  Hungary. 

For  a  long  time  the  music  of  Africa  defied  every  at- 
tempt on  my  part  to  reduce  it  to  musical  notation.  Very 
few  persons  have  made  the  attempt ;  for  it  is  easier  to 
reduce  their  language  to  writing  than  their  music.  At 
first  it  seemed  as  inarticulate  and  spontaneous  as  the 
sound  of  the  distant  surf  with  which  it  blended,  or  the 
music  of  the  night-wind  in  the  bamboo. 

The  melody  of  African  music  is  strange  to  our  ears, 
because,  as  I  have  said,  it  is  usually  derived  from  tone- 
systems  that  are  unlike  either  our  major  or  minor  scales. 


80     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

They  have  the  pentatonie  scale,  that  is,  a  major  scale 
without  the  fourth  and  the  seventh  notes,  thus  avoiding 
the  use  of  semitones ;  but  their  other  scales  are  strange  to 
most  people.  Among  them  are  some  of  the  scales  of  the 
plain-song  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church — the  Gregorian 
chant.  The  plain-song  is  the  only  survival  (among  our- 
selves) of  ancient  music.  Modern  music  is  based  upon 
harmony,  and  consists  essentially  in  a  progression  of 
chords.  The  successive  tones  of  a  modern  melody  acquire 
their  character  not  chiefly  from  their  own  sequence,  as  do 
ancient  melodies,  but  from  the  chords  to  which  they  be- 
long ;  and  the  chords  even  when  they  are  not  voiced  are 
always  understood.  But  harmony  itself  is  modern,  dat- 
ing from  about  the  thirteenth  century.  African  melodies 
cannot  always  be  harmonized,  and  when  the  harmony  is 
added  it  is  not  usually  effective. 

But  in  African  music  another  scale  is  employed  which 
is  not  Gregorian,  but  oriental.  It  is  a  minor  scale  with 
an  augmented  interval — a  tone  and  a  half— between  the 
sixth  and  seventh  notes,  that  is,  with  a  minor  sixth  and 
a  major  seventh.  This  peculiarly  effective  interval  im- 
parts an  intense  melancholy.  Verdi,  with  delightful 
propriety,  makes  use  of  this  very  scale  in  Aida,  in  the 
hymn  of  the  Egyptian  priestesses  in  the  first  act,  where 
an  extant  Arab  melody  is  introduced.  This  scale  is 
probably  the  oldest  tone-system  in  the  world  and  may 
have  come  originally  from  the  banks  of ;  the  Ganges,  in 
the  far-distant  past. 

/     The  African,  like  the  oriental,  conceives  of  the  scales, 
'"   and  the  melodies  derived  from  them,  as  moving  down- 
ward, instead  of  upward  like  our  own.     All  African 
\  music  sings  downward.     Another  striking  peculiarity  is 
^s.that  they  lack  tonality,  as  the  musician  would  say  ;  that 
is,  they  seem  not  to  be  in  any  particular  key.     The  strong 
feeling  of  the  key-note  which  characterizes  our  major 


AFRICAN  MUSIC  81 

scale  is  entirely  absent ;  and  this,  of  course,  accounts  for 
the  absence  of  a  well-defined  cadence,  to  which  I  have 
alluded.  The  weird  fascination  of  the  African  dirge  is 
largely  due  to  this  absence  of  tonality.  Musical  genius 
could  hardly  surpass  this  instinctive  expression  of  de- 
spair— the  desolation  of  an  everlasting  farewell. 

The  emotion  which  it  represents,  however  intense,  is 
rather  disappointingly  transient.  Sometimes  it  is  even 
unreal ;  I  mean  to  say  that  it  is  sometimes  indulged  for 
its  own  sake.  And  this  is  true  of  the  Negro  everywhere. 
A  few  days  ago  I  came  upon  an  article  in  an  old  maga- 
zine, in  which  a  Southern  woman,  in  "Rambling  Talks 
About  the  Negro,"  tells  of  a  mourning  party  of  Negroes 
that  assembled  one  night  beside  her  house  to  finish  a 
mourning  ceremony  that  ought  to  have  been  a  part  of  a 
funeral  a  few  days  earlier ;  but  a  storm  had  interrupted  it. 
The  unearthly  mournfulness  of  their  music  was  intensi- 
fied by  their  beautiful  voices  until  it  became  unbearable, 
and  the  woman  bowed  her  head  upon  the  window  sill  and 
cried  without  restraint,  while  imagination  conjured  up 
fictitious  woes,  such  as  the  sudden  death  of  her  children 
and  of  all  her  friends,  until  she  was  alone  in  a  bleak  world. 
Then  it  occurred  to  her  that  it  was  wrong  for  people  to 
indulge  a  voluntary  anguish  and  make  a  luxury  of 
misery  ;  so  she  sent  a  servant  to  offer  a  barrel  of  water- 
melons to  the  party  of  mourners  on  condition  that,  in- 
stead of  mourning,  they  should  dance  and  jollify ;  to 
which  they  heartily  responded,  after  first  making  sure 
that  the  melons  were  in  good  condition,  for  they  really 
preferred  to  mourn. 

When,  to  the  peculiar  scales  which  Africans  employ, 
one  adds  the  further  fact  that  in  African  music  (and  in- 
deed in  the  Negro  melodies  of  our  South)  the  note  which 
corresponds  to  our  seventh  in  the  scale  (a  step  below  the 
tonic)  is  seldom  a  true  seventh,  but  is  slightly  flatted, 


82      THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

enough  to  make  a  distinct  note  with  a  character  of  its 
own,  one  has  probably  accounted  for  the  peculiar  plain- 
tiveness,  the  elusiveness,  the  vague  mysteriousness, 
which  constitutes  the  charm  of  all  true  Negro  music. 

The  rhythm  of  African  music  is  a  further  impediment 
to  our  appreciation.  In  the  music  of  the  dance  the 
rhythm  is  of  necessity  somewhat  regular.  But  even  in 
this  music  it  is  variable  and  does  not  conform  throughout 
to  any  one  time-scheme  but  changes  back  and  forth  from 
duple  to  triple  within  the  same  melody.  This  also  is 
characteristic  of  oriental  music.  In  most  African  music 
the  rhythm  is  regulated  by  the  words,  like  the  recitative, 
the  rhythmic  imitation  of  declamatory  speech.  But  it 
has  the  symmetry  that  feeling  secures.  The  best  way  to 
learn  the  African's  song  is  to  watch  the  swaying  of  his 
body  and  imitate  it,  and  if  the  words  have  meaning  let 
their  feeling  possess  one.  Mr.  William  E.  Barton,  the 
compiler  of  a  small  collection  of  choice  Negro  melodies, 
tells  how  that  "Aunt  Dinah,"  who  had  been  trying  to 
teach  a  Negro  hymn  to  a  young  lady,  at  last  seeing  her 
begin  to  sway  her  body  slightly  and  pat  her  foot  upon 
the  floor,  exclaimed:  "Dat's  right,  honey!  Dat's  de 
berry  way!  Now  you's  a-gittin'  it  sho  nuff!  You'll 
nebber  larn  'em  in  de  wuld  till  you  sings  'em  in  de 
sperrit." 

The  African  sings  not  only  his  joy,  but  his  grief;  not 
only  his  love,  but  his  anger,  his  revenge  and  his  despair. 
Livingstone  was  greatly  surprised,  upon  approaching  a 
slave  caravan,  to  hear  some  of  them  singing.  But  as  he 
listened  he  found  that  they  were  singing  words  of  grief 
and  vengeance — for  usually  they  were  betrayed  and  sold 
by  some  of  their  own  people.  So  it  was  everywhere,  as 
old  men  of  Gaboon  have  told  me  ;  they  went  away  chant- 
ing their  desolation  and  their  curses  upon  those  who  had 
betrayed  them. 


AFRICAN  MUSIC  83 

There  is  no  doubt  that  music  is  the  art-form  of  the 

Negro.     He  is  the  most  musical  person  living.     His  en- 

tire emotional  life  he  utters  in  song.     He  has  not  yet 

'•  done  any  great  thing.     His  day  is  still  future.     But  I  be- 

lieve that  when  he  comes,  he  will  come  singing. 


Chorus  of  men  and  women 


DANCE  SONG  OF  MPONGWE 

The  time  signature  is  only  approximately  correct,  and  forces  a 
rhythmic  symmetry  which  African  music  does  not  possess.  The  en- 
ergetic momentum  is  characteristic  of  African  dance  music. 


~-f=f 


-p &- 


-.• v 


CANOE  SONG  OF  GABOON 
All  African  music,  like  Oriental  music,  sings  downward. 


84     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

-tj-5 _ ,_ : , ,_, «9^ , ,__, ^_ 


tf^rr-Ffa 

4:H E=P5>- 


--*     *  •—$- 


A  MOURNING  DIRGE 

This  is  chanted  by  an  individual,  or  a  succession  of  individuals, 
and  is  not  the  usual  wail  in  which  all  join,  though  it  is  much  like  it. 
African  music  is  not  always  based  upon  harmony;  nor  does  harmony 
always  improve  it. 


YI 

PESTS 

IT  is  part  of  the  squalid  commonplace  of  life  in 
Africa  that  the  most  exciting  adventures  are  not 
with  elephants  but  with  ants,  and  our  worst  danger 
is  not  the  leopard  but  the  mosquito.  And  this  struggle 
against  minute  enemies  requires  more  patience  than  the 
fight  with  beasts,  both  because  it  is  not  occasional,  but 
an  unremitting  warfare,  and  because  it  does  not  appeal 
to  our  love  of  the  heroic,  nor  stimulate  with  the  promise 
of  praise.  When  Paul  tells  us  that  he  fought  with  beasts 
at  Ephesus,  our  hearts  swell  with  admiration  ;  but  if  he 
had  said :  "  I  have  fought  with  the  mosquitoes  in  Africa," 
he  would  have  elicited  no  sympathy  and  some  ridicule  ; 
although  the  latter  is  also  a  fight  for  life,  and  attended 
by  greater  danger  and  weariness  and  pain. 

It  is  significant  that  it  was  in  Africa  that  Moses  sum- 
moned the  ten  plagues  to  his  aid  in  humbling  the  haughty 
Pharaoh.  If  ten  had  not  been  sufficient  he  might  have 
summoned  ten  times  ten,  and  without  exhausting  the  do- 
mestic resources. 

"We  are  grateful  that  common  houseflies  are  not  suffi- 
ciently numerous  to  constitute  a  pest,  except  where  cattle 
are  bred  in  large  numbers.  In  Gaboon  there  was  no  need 
for  screens  on  doors  and  windows. 

But  there  are  many  kinds  of  flies,  and  the  natives  who 
have  not  learned  to  wear  clothing  commonly  carry  a  fly- 
brush  made  of  a  bunch  of  stiff  grass  about  two  feet  long, 
that  they  may  defend  the  whole  area  of  the  back,  where 
the  fly  usually  makes  its  attack.  When  one  sees  a  fly  on 

85 


86      THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

a  neighbour's  back  it  is  regarded  as  a  duty  of  friendship 
to  come  up  behind  that  neighbour  slowly  and  stealthily, 
giving  the  fly  full  time  to  bite  his  worst  and  so  be  deserv- 
ing of  death,  then  to  strike  an  awful  blow  on  the  neigh- 
bour's back,  fit  to  bring  him  to  his  feet  with  a  yell.  It 
seldom  harms  the  fly,  but  it  expresses  great  indignation, 
and,  by  implication,  sympathy  with  your  neighbour. 
The  habit  of  killing  flies,  or  attempting  to  kill  them  when 
they  alight,  is  an  obsession  with  the  native,  and  it  seems 
a  physical  impossibility  for  him  to  resist.  He  does  it  in 
church.  When  I  first  preached  in  Batanga,  to  a  large 
congregation,  I  was  very  much  disturbed  by  this  un- 
looked-for and  constant  slapping  on  bare  backs.  And 
whenever  I  saw  a  man  creep  quietly  across  the  aisle  or 
forward  several  seats  to  perform  this  friendly  office,  I 
could  not  help  watching  until  I  heard  the  slap,  when  I 
always  felt  like  stopping  the  discourse  long  enough  to 
ask  :  "  Did  you  kill  it  ?  "  For  in  the  mind  of  all  those 
around  there  seemed  to  be  nothing  else  going  on  in  that 
church  but  this  exhibition  of  applied  Christianity. 

Forgetting  that  the  white  man  is  protected  by  his 
clothing,  they  vie  with  each  other  in  the  discharge  of 
this  courtesy  ;  and  the  exasperating  blows  that  the  white 
man  receives  from  his  black  friends  are  the  chief  discom- 
fort that  he  suffers  from  the  larger  flies.  One  day  shortly 
before  leaving  Africa  I  was  riding  in  an  open  boat  when 
a  native  man  sitting  behind  me  suddenly  gave  me  a  slap 
on  the  back  that  actually  hurt,  and  so  startled  me  that  I 
did  some  fool  thing  a  little  short  of  leaping  into  the  sea. 
I  turned  around  and  asked  the  man  in  a  tone  of  cold 
politeness  whether  he  was  trying  to  make  my  back  the 
same  colour  as  his. 

"  Why,  no,"  said  he,  "  I  am  killing  flies. " 

"Fm  no  fly,"  I  replied  frigidly. 

A   few  minutes   later,   when  I  was  indulging  in  a 


PESTS  87 

somnolent  reverie,  he  struck  me  again — I  think  it  must 
have  been  in  the  same  place,  it  hurt  so  much  worse  than 
the  first  time ;  whereupon  I  turned  about  and,  striking 
a  very  dangerous  attitude  (for  a  missionary),  I  threat- 
ened that  if  he  did  it  again  I  would  land  him  a  blow 
in  the  stomach  whether  there  was  a  fly  there  or  not. 
My  boat-boys,  who  knew  the  uses  of  clothing  and  ap- 
preciated the  immunity  of  my  back  from  fly-bites  as  well 
as  the  greater  tenderness  and  sensitiveness  of  the  white 
man's  body,  laughed  at  this  interesting  diversion.  Then 
they  undertook  to  enlighten  their  friend  from  the  bush 
as  to  the  white  man's  view-point,  combining  theoretical 
instruction  with  practical  sense  by  removing  him  to  an- 
other seat :  for  they  well  knew  that  if  he  should  see 
another  fly  on  my  back,  even  while  they  were  talking, 
he  would  strike  again.  He  cannot  help  it :  the  habit  is 
coercive. 

Among  the  worst  pests,  and  peculiar  to  Africa,  is  the 
driver  ant.  They  go  together  in  countless  and  incom- 
prehensible numbers.  The  first  sight  that  one  gets  of 
them  is  a  glistening-black,  rapid-running  stream  about 
two  inches  wide  crossing  the  path  before  him.  Upon 
closer  inspection  he  finds  that  the  stream  is  com- 
posed of  ants ;  and  recognizing  the  driver  ant  of  which 
he  has  heard  many  incredible  stories  on  the  way  to 
Africa,  he  feels  like  shouting  "Fire  !"  and  running  for 
his  life.  But  as  a  matter  of  fact  he  may  with  impunity 
examine  them  as  closely  as  he  pleases  so  long  as  he  does 
not  touch  them.  They  are  so  occupied  with  their  own 
serious  purpose  that  they  will  take  no  notice  of  him. 

In  the  middle  of  the  black  stream  are  the  females, 
about  the  size  of  our  common,  black  wood-ant,  while 
along  the  sides  run  the  soldiers  guarding  from  attack, 
and  these  are  about  four  times  the  size  of  the  others. 
The  defense  of  the  females  is  no  matter  of  necessity,  but 


88     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

rather  gallantry,  for  those  female  viragoes  are  abundantly 
able  to  defend  themselves.  No  creature  so  small  ever 
had  such  a  bite.  They  are  all  provided  with  jaws  and 
with  stings  and  they  know  how  to  work  both  vigorously. 
Some  fine  day  as  the  newcomer  saunters  along,  his  eyes 
engaged  with  the  beauty  of  the  landscape,  he  walks  into 
the  ants.  It  may  be  one  minute,  perhaps  two,  and  pos- 
sibly five,  before  he  knows  anything  of  the  serious 
mistake  he  has  made.  Then  suddenly  he  experiences  a 
sensation  which  is  usually  compared  to  numerous  red-hot 
pincers  applied  implacably ;  for  these  ants  do  not  let  go. 
If  he  follows  the  course  prescribed  by  ardent  advisers,  he 
will  do  either  of  two  things  :  he  will  instantly  strip  off 
his  clothing,  even  if  he  should  be  in  the  governor's  court- 
yard, yelling  the  while  at  the  top  of  his  voice  so  that 
those  who  object  may  go  some  other  way ;  or  he  will 
make  a  dash  for  the  nearest  rain-barrel  and  tumble  into 
it.  Fortunately,  their  bite  is  not  poisonous  and  leaves 
no  bad  effects  afterwards.  After  this  experience  he  will 
never  allow  more  than  one  eye  to  dwell  upon  the  charm 
of  the  landscape ;  the  other  will  be  directed  to  the  path 
before  him.  If  a  man  must  go  out  at  night  he  always 
carries  a  lantern. 

When  these  ants  come  to  a  place  where  there  is  food  to 
their  liking,  they  scatter  and  spread  out  over  a  large 
area.  Then,  of  course,  they  are  not  so  quickly  discovered, 
and  one  may  easily  walk  into  them.  They  are  one  of 
the  trials  of  bush-travel,  and  the  worst  living  nuisance 
of  the  bush,  where  the  undergrowth  hides  them  even 
from  the  keen  eye  of  the  native.  There  is  seldom  a  day 
on  a  bush  journey  that  the  caravan  does  not  march  into 
the  drivers.  Then  there  is  some  wild  yelling  by  those  in 
the  lead  ;  the  cry,  "  Drivers  ! "  goes  all  along  the  line 
and  each  man  as  he  comes  to  them  makes  a  lively  dash 
through  them,  stamping  heavily  as  he  runsj  for  it  is 


PESTS  89 

possible  thus  to  keep  them  off  or  to  shake  them  off  be- 
fore they  get  a  hold.  All  other  insects  and  animals  flee 
before  them,  including  the  python  and  the  leopard. 

Travellers  have  frequently  told  how  that  the  silent, 
sleeping  forest  has  suddenly  become  all  astir  and  vocal, 
the  angry  boom  of  the  gorilla  or  the  frightened  bleat  of 
the  gazelle  alternating  with  a  cry  of  the  leopard  and  the 
scream  of  the  elephant ;  all  forgetful  of  their  mutual 
hostility  and  vying  with  one  another  in  the  speed  of 
their  escape  from  the  driver  ant,  abroad  on  a  foraging 
expedition,  to  the  number  of  infinity. 

They  make  frequent  visits  to  the  native  villages  and 
the  white  man's  premises,  usually  in  the  night,  spreading 
over  the  whole  place, — the  ground,  the  houses,  inside  and 
out,  and  through  the  roofs.  Here  they  act  as  scavengers, 
driving  before  them  all  other  insect  nuisances,  such  as 
the  cockroaches  and  centipedes,  which  especially  infest 
the  thatched  roofs.  Nevertheless,  if  one  should  hear  the 
language  of  the  average  white  man,  upon  the  occasion  of 
one  of  these  nocturnal  visitations,  when  the  drivers  have 
wakened  him  rudely  and  driven  him  headlong  out  into 
the  dark,  and  perhaps  the  rain,  there  to  shiver  during  this 
untimely  house-cleaning,  one  would  not  for  a  moment 
mistake  it  for  an  expression  of  gratitude. 

Setting  hens  must  be  kept  carefully  out  of  their  way. 
In  one  instance  I  knew  of  the  drivers  visiting  a  nest  one 
night  when  the  young  chickens  were  just  coming  out  of 
the  shells.  The  empty  shells  were  there  in  the  morning, 
but  no  chickens.  If  they  should  gain  undiscovered  ac- 
cess to  a  chicken-house  in  the  night,  they  would  leave 
nothing  but  bones  and  feathers.  At  Efulen  we  built  our 
chicken-house  against  the  workmen's  house,  on  the  side 
away  from  the  bush,  so  that  the  drivers  on  their  approach 
should  first  visit  the  workmen  and  we  should  be  warned 
in  time  to  save  our  chickens. 


We  had  been  there  only  a  short  time  when  we  were 
awakened  one  night  by  the  familiar  outcry  as  the  men 
were  driven  out  of  their  house.  But  the  drivers  had 
come  from  a  different  direction  that  night,  and  when  we 
went  to  the  chicken-house  we  found  it  already  in  their 
possession.  It  was  but  the  work  of  a  minute  or  two  to 
tuck  our  pajamas  inside  our  socks,  bind  our  sleeves  with 
handkerchiefs  around  the  wrists,  tie  another  handkerchief 
around  the  neck  and  pull  a  cap  down  over  the  head. 
Thus  prepared  I  entered  the  chicken-house,  the  ground 
and  walls  of  which  were  a  glistening  black  mass.  Stamp- 
ing my  feet  all  the  time,  I  snatched  the  chickens  one  by 
one  from  the  roost,  stripped  the  handful  of  loose  ants 
from  their  legs  and  handed  them  out  to  Dr.  Good  and 
Mr.  Kerr,  who  picked  off  the  remaining  ants,  after  which 
we  brought  the  chickens  into  our  house  and  put  them 
on  the  pantry  shelves  until  morning,  meanwhile  building 
a  line  of  fire  around  the  house  to  keep  the  drivers  back. 

But  it  was  not  long  after  this  that  they  found  the  house 
unguarded  one  morning  just  at  daylight  when  I  was 
alone  at  Efulen.  I  was  awake  but  not  yet  ready  to  rise 
when  I  heard  a  low,  rustling  sound  upon  the  floor  of  my 
room.  After  a  few  minutes,  observing  that  it  was  be- 
coming more  distinct,  I  drew  back  my  mosquito-net  and 
looked  out.  Almost  the  entire  floor  was  black  with 
the  drivers,  and  they  were  close  to  the  bed.  From  the 
foot  of  the  bed  towards  the  door  it  was  still  possible  for 
me  to  escape  by  a  good  jump ;  and  in  a  moment  I  found 
myself  shivering  out  in  the  yard  while  my  clothes  were 
still  in  the  house. 

One  day,  as  Dr.  Good  and  I  were  entering  a  native  vil- 
lage, Dr.  Good  walked  through  some  stray  drivers.  He 
began  to  preach  to  the  people,  who  as  it  happened  were 
already  gathered  in  the  street  where  they  had  been  taking 
a  palaver.  Before  he  had  been  preaching  more  than  a 


PESTS  91 

minute  I  observed  that  his  gestures  were  more  animated 
than  I  had  ever  seen  before.  Soon  they  became  violent, 
noticeably  irrelevant  and  even  of  questionable  propriety. 
It  was  a  little  like  Brer  Kabbit,  one  evening  when  the 
mosquitoes  were  bad,  telling  the  wolf  about  his  grand- 
father's spots.  I  looked  on  with  increasing  amazement 
and  consternation,  until  at  last  even  Dr.  Good's  indom- 
itable will  was  overborne,  and  he  shouted  :  "  Drivers  !  " 
and  bolted  abruptly  for  the  bush.  I  tried  to  go  on  with 
the  service,  but  it  was  almost  impossible  because  of  the 
laughter  of  the  audience.  Each  one  insisted  upon  telling 
his  neighbours  all  about  it,  to  the  accompaniment  of  a 
broad  caricature  of  Dr.  Good's  gestures. 

There  was  once  a  native  man  in  Gaboon  who  was 
slightly  deranged  in  his  mind.  The  government  advised, 
and  at  last  insisted,  that  he  should  not  be  allowed  at 
large.  His  family,  being  averse  to  confining  him,  chiefly, 
I  imagine,  because  of  the  care  it  would  entail  upon  them, 
sent  him  to  a  village  of  their  relations  across  the  river 
ten  miles  distant.  There  he  remained  for  some  time. 
The  people  there  bound  him  at  night  lest  he  might  set 
fire  to  the  town  while  they  slept.  He  objected  to  this 
and  at  last  became  troublesome  by  calling  out  continually 
during  the  night.  Then  they  improvised  a  rude  shelter 
back  a  short  distance  from  the  town,  where  they  placed 
him  at  night  and  as  usual  bound  him.  One  night  he  was 
more  noisy  than  ever  before,  yelling  and  screaming  hide- 
ously so  that  he  wakened  the  people.  They  thought  that 
he  had  become  demented  but  no  one  went  to  him  until 
morning,  and  then  they  made  the  horrible  discovery  that 
the  drivers  had  attacked  and  devoured  him. 

In  some  tribes  criminals  are  sometimes  punished  by 
being  bound  to  the  ground  in  the  track  of  the  drivers. 
One  can  hardly  conceive  of  anything  more  horrible  ;  for 
they  would  enter  ears  and  eyes  and  nostrils.  But  I  be- 


92      THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

lieve  this  is  very  rarely  done.  When  death  is  decided 
upon,  the  Africans  usually  accomplish  it  by  quick  means. 

There  is  another  ant  which  I  would  say  is  worse  than 
the  driver,  were  it  not  that  as  yet  its  distribution  is  lim- 
ited and  it  may  be  only  transient.  It  is  a  very  small  red 
ant  difficult  to  see  with  the  naked  eye  except  in  a  good 
light  and  on  a  white  surface.  It  takes  to  dark  closets, 
upholstered  furniture,  hair  mattresses  and  those  who 
would  sleep  upon  them.  It  has  not  been  long  known  in 
those  portions  of  West  Africa  that  are  familiar  to  the 
white  man.  It  has  come  from  the  southeast  towards  the 
coast.  In  1900  it  took  possession  of  our  mission-house  at 
Angom,  which  was  not  occupied  at  that  time. 

It  is  doubtful  whether  this  ant  would  be  likely  to  infest 
a  house  when  the  grass  around  it  is  kept  closely  cut  and 
the  house  well  opened  to  the  light  and  air ;  but  when 
once  infested  it  is  not  clear  that  these  precautions  would 
drive  it  out.  One  of  Woermann's  trading-houses  on  the 
Ogowe  had  to  be  abandoned  because  of  it. 

My  first  experience  with  it  was  in  1900  when  I  visited 
Angom  and  slept  in  the  mission-house  that  had  been 
occupied  only  occasionally  for  more  than  a  year.  I  was 
no  sooner  asleep  than  I  was  awakened  by  an  extremely 
painful  sensation,  as  if  red-hot  pepper  had  been  sprinkled 
all  over  me.  I  felt  no  sharp  bite,  but  only  this  intolerable 
smarting  pain.  It  occurred  to  me  that  I  might  have  been 
poisoned  during  the  day  by  some  violently  poisonous 
herb  in  the  bush  or  the  overgrown  garden ;  but  I  re- 
mained in  bed  never  thinking  that  the  cause  of  it  was 
there.  The  natives  told  me  in  the  morning  what  it  was. 
My  flesh  was  badly  inflamed  and  I  had  fever  all  that  day. 
After  that  I  always  slept  in  the  boat,  or  in  later  years,  the 
launch,  when  I  visited  Angom. 

Among  African  pests  there  is  another  red  ant,  very 
small,  though  not  so  small  as  the  last.  It  does  not  bite 


PESTS  93 

nor  attack  the  person,  but  is  nevertheless  a  great  nuisance, 
particularly  to  housekeepers.  All  table  food  must  be 
kept  out  of  its  way.  Any  food  remaining  on  the  table 
even  an  hour  is  covered  with  them.  They  are  especially 
fond  of  sugar  ;  and  if  it  is  left  on  the  table  or  unprotected 
from  one  meal  to  the  next,  it  is  found  a  living  red  mass. 
By  what  powerful  instinct  they  immediately  discover  the 
place  where  food  is,  and  where  they  come  from  in  such 
numbers,  are  among  the  mysteries  that  the  white  man  will 
often  ponder.  Most  of  our  food  is  imported,  in  tins,  and 
once  a  tin  is  opened  it  is  kept  away  from  these  ants  by 
being  placed  in  a  safe  suspended  from  the  ceiling  by  tarred 
rope.  The  safe  is  a  light  frame  of  wood  covered  with  wire 
screen  or  netting. 

Besides  these,  there  are  numerous  other  varieties  of 
ants,  less  harmful,  or  altogether  harmless.  The  ground  is 
so  infested  with  them  that  neither  white  man  nor  native 
ever  thinks  of  sitting  down  upon  it,  as  we  might  sit  upon 
the  grass  in  this  country.  Altogether,  more  than  five 
thousand  varieties  of  ants  have  been  described  and 
classified  ;  and  most  of  these  are  found  in  Africa. 

Among  the  worst  of  the  African  pests  is  the  jigger. 
Those  who  are  most  sensitive  to  it  would  without  doubt 
call  it  the  worst  of  all.  If  the  pest  of  the  small  ant 
travels  from  the  interior  towards  the  coast,  this  pest  began 
at  the  coast  and  is  extending  towards  the  interior.  It  has 
evidently  been  imported — tradition  says  from  Brazil,  in 
the  cargo  and  sand  ballast  of  sailing  vessels.  The  older 
inhabitants  along  the  coast  remember  when  it  first  be- 
came known,  and  I  am  sure  that  it  made  itself  known 
very  soon  after  it  arrived.  The  jigger  is  a  tiny  species  of 
flea,  so  small  that  the  naked  eye  sees  it  with  difficulty. 
It  has  all  the  reprehensible  habits  of  its  kind.  The  males 
hop  all  over  one's  person  in  a  playful  manner,  giving  him 
a  nip  here  and  a  nip  there ;  but  the  females  burrow  be- 


94     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

neath  the  skin.  The  favourite  place  is  the  feet,  especially 
under  the  nails,  but  they  are  frequently  found  also  under 
the  finger  nails  and  sometimes  in  the  elbows  and  knees. 
Here  the  female,  unless  discovered  and  removed,  forms  a 
sac  which  expands  to  the  size  of  a  small  pea,  and  which 
contains  hundreds  of  little  j  iggers  who  soon  begin  to  "  j  ig  " 
for  themselves,  and  burrow  again  in  the  same  flesh. 
Many  of  them  however  are  scattered  on  the  ground  ;  those 
that  remain  keep  multiplying,  until  if  neglected  the  whole 
foot  becomes  a  festering  sore. 

To  the  African  child  the  jigger  is  the  occasion  of  its 
worst  suffering.  I  have  seen  children  who  could  not 
walk,  some  with  toes  eaten  away,  and  several  with  nearly 
the  whole  foot  gone.  For,  to  the  African  and  to  some 
white  men,  they  are  not  irritating  while  boring  beneath 
the  skin,  and  afterwards  they  are  very  hard  to  see, 
especially  in  the  black  skin  of  the  native.  One  may  know 
nothing  of  their  presence  for  several  days,  after  which 
they  are  so  hard  to  remove  that  the  native  child  will  bear 
the  irritating  itch  that  they  first  occasion  rather  than  sub- 
mit to  the  pain  of  removing  them  ;  and  when  the  itch  has 
become  a  painful  sore,  no  child  could  remove  them. 
Some  African  mothers  watch  their  children's  feet  closely 
but  others  neglect  them  cruelly.  I  am  glad  to  say  that 
those  who  allow  their  feet  to  get  full  of  jiggers,  or  mothers 
who  neglect  the  care  of  their  children's  feet,  are  looked 
down  upon,  as  lousy  persons  would  be  among  us,  though 
not  to  the  same  extent. 

The  jiggers  are  less  troublesome  in  the  wet  season. 
But  with  the  diy  season  their  numbers  increase  rapidly, 
and  towards  the  close  of  the  season  the  soil  and  the  sand 
are  fairly  alive  with  them.  If  possible,  missionary  board- 
ing-schools ought  to  have  vacation  at  this  time  ;  for  the 
white  missionary  is  sure  to  get  them  in  the  schoolroom  ; 
and  the  dormitories,  which  usually  have  only  earthen 


PESTS  95 

floors,  become  so  infested  with  them  that  even  native 
children  are  often  kept  awake  at  night,  and  the  amount 
of  discipline  necessary  to  make  them  keep  their  feet  in 
order  may  demoralize  the  school.  There  are  always 
children,  large  and  small,  who  need  no  supervision,  and 
are  sufficiently  self- respecting  to  keep  their  feet  clean  ;  but 
their  task  is  made  exceedingly  difficult  by  the  presence  in 
the  same  dormitory  of  those  who  breed  jiggers  by  thou- 
sands. As  a  rule,  with  but  few  exceptions,  the  children 
who  keep  their  feet  clean  are  those  who  have  been  in  the 
school  before  and  are  known  as  mission-boys  and  mission- 
girls. 

In  my  boys'  boarding-school  of  later  years  one  would 
see  a  strange  sight  each  day  during  the  dry  season.  The 
whole  school  filed  out  at  recess  and  sat  down  along  either 
side  of  the  path  leading  to  the  mission-house.  A  com- 
mittee of  boys  examined  the  feet  of  the  others  and 
reported  to  me  the  name  of  every  boy  who  had  jiggers  in 
his  feet ;  while  I  stood  with  note-book  in  hand  and  wrote 
down  their  names.  Then  when  the  food  was  given  out  at 
noon  these  boys  were  left  without  food  until  their  feet 
were  pronounced  clean.  The  larger  boys  were  responsi- 
ble for  those  of  their  own  town  or  family  who  were  too 
small  to  attend  to  their  own  feet.  I  once  kept  a  boy  more 
than  a  day  without  food  until  he  removed  his  jiggers,  and 
one  hopeless  boy  I  at  last  expelled  from  the  school  for  the 
offense.  For  rigid  insistence  upon  this  discipline,  I  felt, 
lay  close  to  moral  instruction. 

The  white  man  of  course  suffers  from  jiggers,  but  not  so 
much  as  the  native,  because  of  his  shoes,  his  cleaner 
house,  and  because  his  feet  are  more  sensitive,  so  that  he 
becomes  aware  of  them  after  several  days  at  the  most, 
when  they  can  be  removed  without  injury,  if  it  is  very 
carefully  done.  After  one  has  been  in  Africa  a  length  of 
time  he  will  detect  their  presence  as  soon  as  they  begin  to 


96      THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

burrow.  Some  white  men  have  a  native  boy  examine 
their  feet  every  night  or  morning  ;  for  the  boy  has  very 
sharp  eyes,  and  he  removes  the  jigger  with  surprising 
skill.  It  can  be  done  with  a  pin  ;  a  needle  is  better  and 
a  pair  of  tweezers  is  still  better.  If  the  sac  that  is  formed 
after  several  days  be  broken  in  the  removal,  it  may  cause 
a  sore  that  will  take  some  time  to  heal.  Indeed,  if  one 
be  greatly  reduced  in  health  and  the  blood  in  bad  condi- 
tion, it  may  not  heal  at  all  until  he  leaves  the  country  on 
furlough.  I  have  known  men  who  for  weeks  were  not 
able  to  wear  a  shoe  because  of  jigger  sores. 

After  I  had  been  a  few  months  in  Africa,  one  day, 
while  in  bed  with  fever,  I  said  to  a  friend  that  in  allow- 
ing my  feet  to  touch  the  floor  beside  the  bed  where 
natives  had  been  standing,  I  must  have  caught  the  itch  ; 
for  a  most  irritating  itch  had  been  troubling  me  for  several 
days.  My  friend  at  once  suggested  jiggers  as  the  cause. 
I  answered  with  great  assurance  that  it  certainly  was  not 
jiggers,  for  I  had  watched  my  feet  very  closely,  having 
determined  from  the  first  that  I  should  get  no  jiggers — 
which  of  course  was  true,  but  I  suppose  I  had  been  watch- 
ing for  creatures  the  size  of  potato-bugs  crawling  over  my 
feet.  I  at  once  called  a  native  boy,  however,  wishing  per- 
haps to  assure  my  friend,  and  the  boy  found  seven 
colonies  of  jiggers.  It  took  my  feet  a  long  time  to  heal. 
But  it  never  happened  again. 

The  male  jigger,  as  I  have  said,  does  not  burrow  in  the 
flesh,  but  disports  himself  upon  the  surface  and  makes 
himself  very  numerous.  He  is  one  of  the  great  variety 
of  influences  that  keep  the  white  man  constantly  scratch- 
ing. The  native  scratches  too,  scratches  most  of  the  time, 
and  often  with  both  hands,  but  he  does  not  get  excited 
about  it,  nor  attract  so  much  attention.  But  the  habit  is 
disgusting  in  the  white  man,  and  after  all  it  is  a 
habit  rather  than  a  necessity.  A  minority  exercise  the 


PESTS  97 

strongest  self-restraint,  a  larger  number  exercise  restraint 
sometimes ;  many  white  men,  however,  exercise  no  re- 
straint at  all,  but  scratch  continually,  regardless  of  the 
occasion. 

The  sandfly,  or  midge,  not  known  at  the  coast,  but 
widely  distributed  in  the  interior,  must  be  counted  among 
the  worst  of  African  pests.  They  also  are  exceedingly 
small.  They  do  their  utmost  to  make  life  intolerable  in 
the  early  morning  hours  after  daylight,  and  again  in  the 
evening  before  dark.  Some  are  more  sensitive  to  them 
than  others.  When  I  was  living  in  the  interior,  I  bathed 
my  hands  and  face  in  kerosene  or  turpentine  each  morn- 
ing and  evening  as  their  hour  approached  and  sometimes 
repeated  it  once  or  twice  before  they  retired. 

The  mosquitoes  are  so  bad,  especially  in  the  low  places 
along  the  coast,  that  even  the  natives  must  sleep  under 
mosquito  nets. 

In  the  song  of  our  childhood  we  were  impressed  with 
the  possibilities  of  such  minutiae — as  little  drops  of  water, 
little  grains  of  sand  and  little  moments  of  time,  when 
these  are  multiplied  by  infinity.  But  infinity  is  the 
status  of  all  insect  life  in  Africa.  In  order  to  realize  the 
pest  of  the  mosquito  in  towns  adjacent  to  mangrove 
swamps  one  must  multiply  the  insect  until  it  seems  to 
compose  about  fifty  per  cent,  of  the  atmosphere.  Its 
music  too  is  impressive. 

Wherever  possible  the  white  man  builds  his  house  upon 
a  well-cleared  hill  and  so  escapes  them,  sometimes  almost 
entirely  as  at  Baraka.  But  this  is  not  always  possible. 
Many  missionaries  have  told  of  writing  letters  while  sit- 
ting cross-legged  on  their  beds  with  the  mosquito-net 
drawn  down  around  the  bed. 

The  centipede  is  common,  especially  in  those  houses 
that  have  thatch  roofs.  The  African  centipede  is  very 
large,  and  its  bite  is  poisonous,  though  rarely  fatal.  My 


98      THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

first  experience  with  it  was  one  morning,  in  my  bed- 
room, when  I  took  a  bouquet  of  flowers  off  the  table  and 
held  them  to  my  face.  A  large  centipede  glided  out  of 
the  flowers,  and  running  swiftly  across  my  hand  and 
along  my  arm  to  the  elbow,  dropped  to  the  floor.  For- 
tunately, my  sleeve  was  short,  else  I  should  have  been 
bitten.  But  one  morning  that  I  shall  not  forget  I  put  on 
a  sock,  and  there  was  a  centipede  in  the  toe  of  it.  Un- 
fortunately the  sock  was  in  a  state  of  good  repair  ;  there 
was  no  hole  in  the  toe.  I  was  badly  bitten,  for  it  was 
some  time  before  I  could  get  the  sock  off ;  and  the  sick- 
ening feeling  of  repulsion  was  worse  than  the  bite.  I 
afterwards  acquired  the  habit  of  shaking  socks  and  shoes 
and  clothing  before  putting  them  on.  It  is  well  worth 
while  ;  for  if  one  is  disappointed  in  the  matter  of  centi- 
pedes, one  may  perhaps  shed  a  scorpion  or  several 
roaches,  or  sometimes  even  a  snake.  There  are  scor- 
pions in  all  parts  of  Africa  and  in  some  places  they 
abound.  Their  bite  is  always  bad,  and  that  of  some  va- 
rieties is  dangerous. 

But  if  I  were  asked  my  opinion  as  to  the  very  worst 
pest  injAfrica,  I  would  name  the  roach,  or  cockroach,  and 
I  think  that  the  majority  of  white  men  would  agree  with 
me.  My  aversion  to  this  creature  is  so  strong  that  I  do 
not  pretend  to  be  able  to  give  a  dispassionate  judgment. 
It  is  a  beast  of  an  insect.  It  is  much  larger  than  the  fa- 
miliar cockroach  of  this  country  and  is  often  two  inches 
long  ;  and  all  its  powers  and  qualities  of  disposition  are 
proportionately  developed.  It  multiplies  with  amazing 
rapidity.  It  has  an  odour  that  for  real  nastiness  takes 
preeminent  rank  even  in  malodorous  Africa.  It  has  a 
voracious  appetite,  eats  almost  everything  and  seems  to 
get  fat  on  arsenic,  which  I  have  fed  to  it  in  large  quanti- 
ties ;  though  some  persons  declare  that  it  thrives  on 
arsenic  by  not  eating  it  and  by  detecting  it  even  when 


PESTS  99 

mixed  with  sugar  or  anything  else.  It  is  found  in  the 
pantry,  in  clothing,  in  the  library,  in  furniture,  in  every 
drawer  and  every  corner,  and  a  thatch  roof  is  soon  full  of 
them.  Even  in  bed  one  is  not  always  free  from  them, 
for  during  sleep  they  often  nibble  one's  nails  and  hair. 
The  only  way  to  kill  the  cockroach  is  to  crush  it,  and  the 
result  is  so  disgusting  that  one  will  feel  that  it  has  more 
than  avenged  its  death.  Once  in  a  while  in  the  evening 
all  the  cockroaches  take  to  flying,  as  if  seized  with  a  panic 
or  madness.  And  when  they  do  this  they  make  one  for- 
get all  the  other  pests  of  Africa. 

If  the  least  bit  of  butter  or  grease  should  touch  a  suit, 
one  may  depend  upon  it  that  unless  it  is  put  in  a  roach- 
proof  trunk  the  roach  will  find  that  spot,  and  in  the  morn- 
ing a  hole  will  be  eaten  through.  They  devour  wool  as  a 
horse  eats  hay  ;  but  they  will  leave  both  wool  and  grease 
for  the  starch  contained  in  cloth  bookbindings.  They 
show  a  decided  preference  for  new  books,  the  starch  be- 
ing softer  in  these.  If,  in  a  moment  of  supreme  folly, 
one  should  leave  a  book  uncovered  on  a  table  over  night, 
he  will  find  it  in  the  morning  with  several  spots  upon  it 
the  size  of  a  dime,  where  the  starch  and  colour  are  eaten 
out  and  the  bare  gray  threads  exposed.  This  happened 
to  my  Memoirs  of  Tennyson ;  both  volumes  were  badly 
defaced  in  one  night.  Of  course  one  will  cover  with 
heavy  paper — when  he  has  the  paper — every  book  in 
his  library,  or,  at  least,  those  that  are  not  already  spoiled 
by  the  time  he  gets  round  to  them  ;  but  books  so  covered 
lose  their  identity,  like  friends  in  masquerade.  Besides, 
books  thus  kept  in  paper  in  that  damp  atmosphere  will 
soon  be  covered  with  mould.  If  one  adds  to  this  that 
while  roaches  or  mould  are  destroying  the  outside  of  his 
books  white  ants  are  doing  their  best  to  get  at  the  inside, 
he  will  see  that  the  obstacles  incident  to  literary  pursuits 
in  Africa  are  well-nigh  insuperable. 


100     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFEICA 

I  cannot  dismiss  the  white  ant  with  this  passing  notice, 
for  it  also  is  one  of  the  pests  of  Africa ;  indeed,  there  are 
many  who  regard  it  as  the  worst  of  the  African  pests.  It 
is  characteristic  of  the  impudent  hypocrisy  of  this 
stealthy  insect  that  it  should  somehow  get  itself  called  a 
white  ant,  when,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  not  an  ant  at  all, 
and  is  not  white.  It  is  a  dirty -yellow  termite,  a  soft- 
bodied  insect,  in  appearance  like  a  very  small  piece  of 
impure  tallow.  It  is  commonest  in  Africa,  but  is  also 
found  in  South  America,  India  and  Ceylon,  and  one 
species,  it  is  said,  is  even  found  as  far  north  as  Bordeaux. 

The  admirable  and  interesting  features  of  the  white  ant 
(and  it  has  some)  have  nowhere  been  better  described 
than  in  Henry  Drummond's  charming  chapter  in  Tropical 
Africa. 

The  white  ant  lives  underground  in  colonies  of  enor- 
mous numbers.  It  feeds  chiefly  on  dead  wood,  and  its 
presence  is  the  explanation  of  the  noticeable  fact  that 
there  is  very  little  dead  wood — rotting  logs  or  fallen 
branches — in  an  African  forest.  It  does  not  wait  until 
dead  branches  fall,  but  climbs  the  trees  in  search  of  them. 
But  as  its  body  is  choice  food  for  birds  and  other  insects, 
and  as  it  is  defenseless  and  even  blind,  it  protects  itself 
whenever  it  comes  above  ground  by  building  an  earthen 
tunnel  over  itself  as  it  climbs.  This  yellowish  brown 
tunnel,  a  half  tube  in  form,  and  half  an  inch  wide,  one 
will  see  running  up  trees  and  posts  everywhere  in  Africa. 
In  building  it  they  carry  the  earth  in  grains  or  little 
pellets  from  below  the  ground  through  the  tunnel  to  the 
open  end  of  it ;  then  having  covered  the  pellet  thoroughly 
with  a  sticky  secretion  they  place  it  firmly  in  its  proper 
position  and  hurry  away  for  another.  The  soldiers  of  the 
colony,  which  are  very  few  comparatively,  are  armed  with 
formidable  jaws.  Two  or  three  of  these  guard  the  open 
end  of  the  tunnel  where  the  work  is  being  done.  They 


PESTS  101 

take  no  part  in  the  work  of  construction.  But  if  an 
enemy,  usually  in  the  form  of  an  ant,  draw  near  with  the 
object  of  capturing  a  worker,  the  soldier  in  an  instant 
will  be  upon  him.  He  may  pound  him  to  death,  or 
thrust  him  through,  or  using  his  mandibles  like  a  pair 
of  scissors  may  cut  him  in  two,  or  hurl  him  from  the 
battlement  as  with  a  catapult ;  these  different  methods 
representing  different  species.  After  this  the  workers 
again  proceed  with  the  building  of  the  tunnel.  These 
tunnels  are  for  temporary  use  and  are  not  nearly  as 
substantial  as  the  nests.  They  crumble  into  dust  after 
a  few  weeks  and  are  blown  away  by  the  wind  or  washed 
down  by  the  rain. 

The  ant-hills  and  the  ground  below  are  filled  with  an 
intricate  network  of  tunnels.  Professor  Drummond  tells 
us  that  in  the  elevated  plains  of  Central  Africa  these  ant- 
hills are  mounds  ten  or  fifteen  feet  high  and  thirty  or 
forty  feet  in  diameter,  and  even  then  the  greater  part  of 
the  ant  habitation  is  underground  ;  and  that  the  amount 
of  reddish-brown  earth  plastered  upon  the  trees  is  suf- 
ficient to  give  tone  to  the  landscape.  And  this  he  says 
is  the  great  agricultural  process  of  the  tropics,  which  in 
temperate  zones  is  accomplished  by  the  earthworm  carry- 
ing the  under  soil  to  the  surface,  transposing  the  upper 
and  the  lower  layers,  doing  thoroughly  what  man  does 
rudely  with  the  plough.  In  the  lower  plains  of  West 
Africa,  the  white  ant  is  not  so  abundant,  nor  the  ant- 
hills nearly  so  large  as  those  which  Professor  Drummond 
saw.  Nor  is  there  any  such  need  of  them,  for  the  earth- 
worm is  common  enough.  The  more  numerous  ant-hills 
are  two  or  three  feet  high  and  are  often  shaped  like 
a  series  of  bowls  turned  upside  down  one  on  top  of  an- 
other ;  but  the  shape  varies.  A  good  way  to  provide  for 
young  chickens  is  to  send  a  boy  to  the  bush  to  get  an  ant- 
hill, then  break  off  several  small  pieces  at  a  time  and 


102     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

give  to  the  chickens.  It  will  be  full  of  ants,  and  the 
happiness  of  the  chickens  will  be  ample  reward :  there  is 
nothing  that  they  like  better. 

And  that  reminds  me  that  Schweinfurth,  in  The 
Heart  of  Africa,  relates  that  he  himself  ate  white  ants 
in  unlimited  quantities.  He  says  they  are  especially 
good  with  corn.  And  then  he  recommends  them  as  best 
when  they  are  "partly  boiled  and  partly  fried."  I  never 
tried  them  that  way. 

The  most  painstaking  study  and  the  most  elaborate 
description  of  the  white  ant  that  has  ever  been  made  is 
probably  that  of  Karl  Escherich,  whose  book,  Ter- 
mitenleben  auf  Ceylon,  has  recently  been  published. 
Escherich  spent  three  months  in  Ceylon  studying  the 
white  ant.  He  describes  thirty-five  species  of  termite 
existing  in  Ceylon. 

In  the  nest  (the  termetarium)  of  many  of  the  species  of 
white  ants  there  are  tunnels  and  chambers  devoted  to 
the  growing  of  a  certain  fungus — real  fungus  gardens. 
Sometimes  two  different  species  of  termite  inhabit  the 
same  nest,  or  termites  and  ants.  They  live  in  different 
galleries  which  intermingle  but  never  open  into  each 
other.  If  by  the  breaking  of  a  wall  they  should  come 
together  fierce  battles  ensue.  Sometimes  other  insects, 
certain  beetles,  for  instance,  live  with  the  termites  as 
guests,  to  whom  they  even  feed  the  larvae.  Their  pres- 
ence is  probably  a  protection  against  their  enemies  ;  and 
they  seem  to  have  many.  An  army  of  marauding  ants 
will  sometimes  invade  the  nest  and  seek  to  carry  off  the 
occupants. 

There  are  several  distinct  castes  in  the  social  organiza- 
tion of  the  termites  ;  the  queen,  the  males,  the  soldiers, 
the  workers  and  the  larvae.  The  queen  is  enormous  in 
size  as  compared  with  the  workers ;  sometimes  three 
inches  long.  And  exalted  to  the  throne  she  never  moves 


PESTS  103 

again,  but  confines  her  activities  to  the  laying  of  eggs, 
which  she  deposits  at  the  rate  of  several  thousand  a  day. 
But  more  remarkable  than  either  her  size  or  her  ugliness 
is  the  fact  (stated  by  Escherich)  that  she  sweats  out  to 
the  surface  of  her  body  a  substance  which  is  eagerly  de- 
voured by  the  workers.  It  is  this  "exudate"  which 
binds  them  to  her  and  for  which  they  feed  and  cherish 
her.  The  workers  are  continually  licking  her  and 
Escherich  declares  that  he  saw  one  worker  tear  out  a 
piece  of  the  mother's  hide  and  eagerly  drink  the  liquid 
which  flowed  from  the  wound.  And  as  her  body  was 
scarred  in  many  places  it  would  seem  that  this  was  not 
uncommon. 

A  certain  "  ant-exterminator "  has  been  used  success- 
fully in  destroying  the  white  ant.  It  consists  of  a 
charcoal  stove  on  one  side  of  which  is  a  hand-pump  and 
on  the  other  a  hose.  A  powder  of  eighty-five  parts  of 
arsenic  and  fifteen  parts  of  sulphur  is  thrown  upon  the 
glowing  charcoal  and  by  means  of  the  pump  and  the  hose 
the  fumes  are  forced  into  the  nest.  Then  the  entrance  is 
plugged  and  the  nest  is  left  thus  for  several  days. 

But  perhaps  somebody  is  asking  why  an  insect  so 
wonderful  and  interesting  should  be  destroyed  at  all. 
And  that  reminds  me  that  I  classified  the  white  ant  as  a 
pest — and  one  of  the  worst  pests  in  Africa. 

"When  the  white  ant  devours  au  object,  a  dead  branch,  for 
instance,  it  works  inside,  consumes  the  whole  interior  and 
leaves  the  thinnest  shell  of  an  exterior,  an  empty  shape, 
which  yields  at  a  touch  and  falls  into  dust  or  nothing. 
And  unless  one  watches  very  closely,  or  provides  some 
special  protection,  it  will  do  this  same  thing  with  his 
house  or  the  furniture  in  it,  or  the  wooden  posts  under  it. 
White  men's  houses  are  built  upon  posts  and  elevated 
several  feet  from  the  ground.  A  post  beneath  the  house, 
though  of  the  hardest  wood,  and  appearing  to  the  eye  to 


104     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

be  quite  sound,  may  in  fact  be  a  hollow  cylinder  which 
will  collapse  at  a  kick.  Iron  pillars  are  now  generally 
used  instead  of  wood,  iron  being  about  the  only  substance 
which  the  white  ant  cannot  eat.  But  one  must  watch  the 
iron  pillars  closely  for  the  earthen  tunnel  leading  from 
the  ground  to  the  wooden  beams  above  ;  for  once  they  get 
into  a  house  they  can  never  be  gotten  out.  A  board  in 
the  floor  will  collapse,  or  a  trunk,  of  which  they  have  left 
only  a  shell.  They  are  very  fond  of  paper  ;  so  one  must 
especially  watch  his  library,  or  some  day  he  will  take 
down  his  favourite  poet  only  to  find  that  there  is  nothing 
of  it  but  cover  and  the  edges  of  the  leaves.  I  know  this 
very  thing  to  have  happened. 

I  contracted  a  special  prejudice  against  them  when 
they  came  out  of  the  floor  into  my  barrel  of  sermons 
— and  I  remembered  the  particular  quality  of  food  they 
are  supposed  to  relish.  I  was  not  using  those  sermons 
in  Africa  and  it  is  not  likely  I  should  ever  have  used 
them  again  anywhere ;  -neither  am  I  the  victim  of  any 
delusion  in  regard  to  the  loss  that  the  world  sustained 
in  their  destruction.  The  loss  was  mine  alone,  and  was 
chiefly  sentimental.  But  a  minister  usually  has  a  unique 
regard  for  his  sermons,  a  regard  proportioned  to  the  ex- 
tent that  they  represent  the  sweat  of  the  brain  and  the 
heart.  In  this  instance  the  destruction  was  only  partial ; 
for  by  a  mere  accident  I  discovered  them  before  they  had 
entirely  chewed  and  digested  all  my  sermons. 

These  are  a  few  of  the  most  troublesome  insect  pests, 
and  there  are  others. 

There  is  the  big  flying  beetle,  purblind  and  stupid, 
that  comes  in  the  evening  and  looks  the  size  of  a  bat ; 
that  circles  around  the  table  several  times,  with  a  noisy 
boom,  tumbles  at  length  into  the  gravy  and  then  flops 
into  your  face.  There  is  the  hippo  fly,  like  an  enormous 
horsefly,  that  thrusts  a  stiletto  into  one  through  his  cloth- 


PESTS  105 

ing.  In  the  upper  part  of  the  Gaboon  Eiver,  where 
navigation  with  a  launch  was  dangerous  and  I  stood  con- 
stantly by  the  engine,  I  had  a  boy,  sometimes  two  boys, 
standing  beside  me  with  fly -brushes  to  keep  them  off. 

There  are  caterpillars  the  very  touch  of  whose  hair  is 
poisonous  and  produces  an  irritation  of  the  skin.  There 
are  wasps  that  daub  nests  of  mud  on  frames  and  furniture 
and  even  on  clothing  if  it  is  left  hanging  for  a  while  with- 
out being  disturbed.  In  many  parts  there  are  myriads  of 
may-flies  that  swarm  about  sunset,  that  is,  about  dinner- 
time. Sir  Harry  Johnston  complains  that  these  may- 
flies give  soup  an  aromatic  flavour.  There  is  the  boring 
beetle  that  burrows  into  the  rafters,  reducing  them  to  dust. 
There  is  the  walldng-stick,  a  slender  dead  twig,  six  or  eight 
inches  long,  with  lateral  stems,  which  you  sometimes  find 
hanging  to  your  curtains  or  mosquito-net,  and  which, 
when  you  take  it  in  your  fingers  to  throw  it  out,  sud- 
denly spreads  aborted  wings,  nearly  transparent  and  of 
purple  hue,  and  flies  around  you,  a  creature  of  only  one 
magnitude — length  without  breadth  ;  a  conglomeration  of 
dark  lines  plunging  through  the  air.  Then,  startled  out 
of  your  wits,  you  think  you  have  seen  the  devil  for  sure. 

I  have  not  touched  upon  the  numerous  internal  para- 
sites that  prey  upon  humanity.  Only  a  scientific  expert 
ought  to  risk  telling  extensively  of  these  incredibilities. 
Among  them  is  the  eye-worm,  one  of  the  Filaria,  which  in 
spite  of  its  euphonious  name  is  an  abomination.  It  is  a 
white,  thread-like  worm,  an  inch  long,  that  goes  all 
through  the  body  beneath  the  epidermis.  It  becomes 
visible  only  in  the  white  of  the  eye,  and  while  there  a 
doctor  can  remove  it.  But  it  must  be  done,  not  only 
with  extreme  care,  but  promptly,  for  it  does  not  stay 
long  in  one  place.  It  is  extremely  irritating  in  the  eye, 
but  in  other  parts  of  the  body,  although  it  causes  distress- 
ful itching,  it  is  not  so  irritating  as  one  would  expect.  It 


106     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

sometimes  causes  swelling,  especially  in  the  back  of  the 
hand.  Every  few  days  my  forearm  or  my  hand  was 
swollen  from  the  presence  of  this  worm.  I  have  seen  a 
ridge  across  the  nose  where  a  colony  was  passing.  I  have 
been  told  that  the  eye- worm  and  the  worm  that  circulates 
beneath  the  epidermis  are  not  identical.  I  am  not  sure 
about  it ;  but  I  hope  there  are  not  two  of  them. 

The  guinea- worm  belongs  to  the  same  family,  with  the 
beautiful  name,  the  Filaria.  The  larva  enters  the  human 
body  in  drinking-water  and  makes  its  way  to  the  sub- 
cutaneous tissue  of  its  host's  leg,  where  it  often  causes 
serious  abscesses.  It  grows  rapidly,  curling  round  and 
round  and  raising  the  skin.  It  often  reaches  a  length  of 
ten  feet  and  sometimes  more. 

All  African  houses  are  infested  with  rats  and  mice. 
The  white  man  has  introduced  the  cat.  But  there  are 
still  very  few  and  they  are  so  highly  valued  that  among 
the  Fang  in  late  years  a  cat  has  been  made  a  part  of  the 
dowry  which  a  man  pays  for  his  wife.  It  was  several 
months  after  our  first  house  was  built  at  Efulen  before  we 
were  able  to  procure  a  cat  from  the  coast.  In  that  time 
the  rats  had  full  possession  of  the  house  and  merely 
tolerated  us.  They  gambolled  all  night  over  the  beds  in 
which  we  were  sleeping,  and  over  ourselves,  sometimes 
even  getting  under  the  cover.  I  had  always  abhorred 
them,  and  I  was  led  to  use  a  mosquito-net,  not  for 
mosquitoes,  but  to  keep  the  rats  out.  I  never  got  so  used 
to  them  but  that  I  sprang  out  of  bed  whenever  they  got 
into  it.  Finding  that  the  mosquito-net  did  not  altogether 
suffice,  I  hit  upon  the  happy  expedient  of  keeping  a  lamp 
lighted  in  my  room  all  night.  This  was  effective  to  some 
extent,  but  only  by  driving  them  into  the  rooms  occupied 
by  my  fellow  missionaries,  Dr.  Good  and  Mr.  Kerr,  whose 
abhorrence  of  them,  however,  was  not  equal  to  mine. 
They  wondered  why  I  kept  the  lamp  burning,  but  I  did 


PESTS  107 

not  tell  them ;  for  if  we  all  had  lamps  the  rats  would 
have  no  choice  of  room,  and  surely  a  man  has  some  right 
to  profit  by  his  own  discovery.  I  desisted  from  this  prac- 
tice as  soon  as  Dr.  Good  solved  my  purpose,  which  he  did 
one  night  after  he  had  gone  to  bed,  and  instantly  an- 
nounced it  with  a  shout. 

But  at  last  a  new  missionary  arrived  in  the  shape  of  a 
gray  cat,  and  we  welcomed  her  with  a  lavish  entertain- 
ment of  sport  and  feast,  delicately  adapted  to  the  instinct 
and  the  palate  of  her  feline  ladyship.  All  that  night 
there  was  wild  riot  in  the  pantry  where  we  had  put 
her.  In  the  morning  that  cat  was  the  shape  of  a  beer- 
barrel  ;  and,  besides,  there  lay  on  the  pantry  floor  nine 
dead  rats. 

When  I  slept  in  native  houses  I  always  wore  socks  at 
night.  The  natives  declare  that  the  rats  attack  them 
during  sleep,  especially  their  feet.  And  they  say  that 
the  rat  blows  upon  the  wound  that  it  makes  so  that  the 
sleeper  will  not  feel  it.  From  this  belief  there  is  a  cur- 
rent proverb  which  they  apply  to  a  flatterer,  or  to  one 
who,  while  using  smooth  words,  would  inflict  an  injury  : 
"  He  blows  upon  the  wound  that  he  makes." 

The  natives  are  perhaps  more  afraid  of  snakes  than 
anything  else,  and  with  good  reason.  Africa  is  the  home 
of  deadly  snakes.  Most  of  them  are  nocturnal,  and  as 
the  white  man  stays  within  doors  at  night,  he  may  be  in 
Africa  many  months  before  he  realizes  how  abundant 
they  are.  Whenever  it  was  necessary  to  go  out  at  night, 
I  always  carried  a  long  staff  which  I  pushed  along  the 
path  ahead  of  me. 

One  of  our  schoolboys  at  Gaboon,  one  night  about 
eight  o'clock,  was  walking  down  towards  the  beach  in 
the  middle  of  a  wide  road,  when  he  stepped  on  a  small 
snake.  It  bit  him,  and  in  about  half  an  hour  he  died  in 
great  agony.  At  Batanga  a  woman  one  night,  stepping 


108     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

out  of  her  door,  placed  her  foot  on  a  snake  that  was 
coiled  upon  the  door-step.  She  was  bitten  and  died  im- 
mediately. Sometimes  they  get  into  the  thatch  roofs  of 
the  houses,  and  between  the  bamboo  walls  ;  but  this 
rarely  happens  in  the  better  houses  in  which  the  white 
man  lives.  One  of  our  missionary  ladies  at  Benito,  while 
she  was  sick  in  bed  with  fever,  found  a  snake  coiled 
under  her  pillow. 

The  natives  upon  being  bitten  by  a  snake  immediately 
cauterize  the  wound  with  a  red-hot  iron  ;  or,  when  that  is 
not  procurable,  they  will  cut  out  a  piece  of  the  flesh 
around  it,  often  cutting  off  a  finger  or  a  toe  to  save  a 
life.  They  seem  to  have  the  idea  that  all  snakes  are  deadly, 
and  if  one  ask,  in  regard  to  a  particular  snake,  whether 
it  is  poisonous,  the  certain  response  will  be  an  excla- 
mation of  astonishment  at  his  ignorance.  They  solemnly 
declare  in  regard  to  many  varieties  that  they  will  spring 
at  a  man  and  go  straight  through  his  body.  This  is  a 
strange  delusion,  considering  their  usual  accuracy  of  ob- 
servation and  knowledge  in  regard  to  animals.  It  is 
probably  accounted  for  by  the  superstitions  that  attach 
to  snakes.  In  many  African  tribes  the  snake  is  sacred. 
In  those  tribes  they  are  frequently  used  by  the  priests  as 
an  ordeal  in  discovering  criminals.  The  people  are 
ranged  'about  the  priest,  who  is  a  snake-charmer.  He 
passes  around  bringing  the  snake  into  contact  with  each 
person.  The  person  whom  it  bites  is  adjudged  guilty. 

The  characteristic  snakes,  especially  the  deadly  vipers 
which  abound,  are  of  bright  and  variegated  colours, 
green,  red,  yellow  and  black.  Some  call  them  beautiful, 
but  in  most  of  us  the  association  of  ideas  makes  it  impos- 
sible for  us  to  see  any  beauty  in  a  snake.  Their  colours 
are  the  very  colours  of  nature  around  them  ;  and  there- 
fore, instead  of  making  them  conspicuous,  are  really  an 
approximation  to  invisibility — though  I  believe  that  the 


PESTS  109 

protective  colouration  of  animals,  as  a  principle,  has  been 
exaggerated. 

A  recent  traveller  says  that  in  crossing  the  entire  con- 
tinent of  Africa  he  saw  only  two  snakes,  and  he  adds  that 
since  he  succeeded  in  killing  both  of  them  there  are  now 
no  snakes  in  Africa,  so  far  as  he  knows.  I  am  reminded 
of  a  vivid  experience  when  an  American  friend,  Mr. 
Northam,  stayed  some  mouths  in  Gaboon  and  collected 
biological  specimens.  Mr.  Northam  asked  me  whether 
there  were  many  snakes  around  Gaboon.  I  told  him  that 
there  were  very  few.  At  his  suggestion  I  told  my  school- 
boys that  he  wished  to  collect  snakes  and  would  give 
them  something  for  all  the  valuable  snakes  they  would 
bring  to  him.  The  immediate  result  was  enough  to  make 
a  man  think  that  he  had  been  suddenly  precipitated  into 
a  state  of  delirium  tremeus.  I  had  not  supposed  that 
there  were  so  many  snakes  in  all  Africa.  A  continual 
procession  of  boys  passed  my  door,  each  with  some  hor- 
rible kind  of  snake  dangling  from  a  stick,  or  dragging 
along  the  ground.  And  I  had  said  there  were  but  few 
snakes  in  Gaboon  !  The  explanation  is  that  I  kept  to 
the  paths  while  abroad,  and  snakes  are  seldom  found  in 
the  paths  in  the  daytime  ;  for  they  are  mostly  nocturnal 
in  their  habits,  and  I  was  not.  But  the  boys  know  where 
to  find  them  at  any  time. 

After  all,  life  in  Africa  is  quite  tolerable.  As  I  think 
back  over  this  formidable  array  of  pests,  I  am  somewhat 
surprised  that  I  was  not  more  conscious  of  them  while  in 
Africa,  and  that  I  had  leisure  to  do  anything  else  but 
fight  them.  The  explanation  is  that,  although  one  is 
fighting  some  of  them  all  the  time,  one  is  never  fighting 
them  all  at  the  same  time. 


VII 

THE  «  CANNIBAL  "  FANG 

"^  •  "\R~ft  Mpongwe  have  plenty  of  salt  in  them," 
said  one  of  my  boat-boys.  He  was  a  Fang, 
•  and  he  was  speaking  of  the  coast  tribe. 

"The  Mpongwe  have  plenty  of  salt,"  he  repeated.  I 
drew  out  my  note- book  and  credited  the  boy  with  a  very 
interesting  and  expressive  designation  of  a  moral  quality. 
Such  an  improvement  on  our  word  sand  !  It  was  not  less 
interesting,  however,  when  I  found  that  he  meant  it  not 
morally,  but  literally — that  he  was  speaking  not  meta- 
phorically, but  gastronomically.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  not 
one  of  these  boat-boys  had  ever  tasted  human  flesh,  and 
they  would  have  been  insulted  at  the  imputation  of  can- 
nibalism ;  but  it  is  not  long  since  their  fathers  emerged 
from  cannibalism,  and  tradition  still  distinguishes  the 
flesh  of  the  various -surrounding  tribes,  ascribing  a  pref- 
erable flavour  to  this  or  that  tribe.  It  is  generally  un- 
derstood that  the  coast  tribes  are  better  flavoured  than 
those  of  the  interior. 

The  Fang  are  nearly  always  referred  to  as  the  cannibal 
Fang  ;  and  the  casual  reader  might  suppose  that  they 
were  the  worst  cannibals  in  Africa.  But  the  canni- 
balism of  the  Fang  does  not  compare,  either  in  extent 
or  hideousness,  with  that  of  the  Congo  tribes,  as  we  shall 
see. 

The  Fang  is  one  of  the  largest  and  most  important  of 
the  West  African  tribes.  For  many  years  they  have  been 
moving  from  the  far  interior  towards  the  coast,  burning, 
killing  and  even  eating  their  way  through  the  older  coast 

110 


A  FANG  FAMILY. 


THE  "CANNIBAL"  FANG  111 

tribes.  They  have  now  emerged  at  many  points  along 
the  coast,  of  which  Gaboon  was  probably  the  first.  The 
tributaries  of  the  Gaboon  form  a  network  of  waterways, 
which  are  also  the  highways.  There  are  but  few  bush 
roads  in  this  part  of  the  jungle  and  they  are  of  the  worst 
kind ;  in  the  wet  season  mud  to  the  knees  alternating 
with  water  to  the  waist,  and  deeper.  Along  the  rivers 
and  streams  the  Fang  have  built  their  towns.  The  pop- 
ulation of  a  town  varies  from  fifty  to  two  hundred. 

Most  of  my  work  was  done  among  the  Fang.  From 
Baraka  I  reached  their  towns  by  boat  and  canoe,  in  later 
years  by  the  launch  Dorothy. 

The  Fang  are  brown,  not  black  in  colour,  and  are 
several  shades  lighter  than  the  coast  tribes.  Their 
colour  is  quite  to  their  liking.  They  regard  themselves 
as  far  better  looking  than  white  people.  The  men  are 
usually  tall,  athletic  and  remarkably  well  formed,  though 
not  as  full  in  the  chest  as  a  perfect  physique  would  re- 
quire. Most  of  the  younger  men  are  fairly  good  looking. 
Many  of  the  younger  women  have  pretty  faces,  but  they 
are  not  nearly  as  intelligent  looking  as  the  men.  Many 
of  the  children  are  beautiful,  with  sweet  faces  and  lovely 
eyes. 

"They  think  they  are  better  looking  than  white  peo- 
ple." And  why  not !  I  myself  do  not  so  regard  them  ; 
but  I  may  be  wrong.  Questions  of  beauty  are  decided 
by  reference  to  some  standard  in  the  mind  ;  but  whether 
the  standard  depends  upon  custom,  and  varies  with  it,  is 
a  matter  of  doubt  and  dispute.  My  own  judgment,  like 
that  of  others,  was  modified  as  I  lived  among  the  black 
people.  Sir  Joshua  Eeynolds  advanced  the  notion,  ac- 
cording to  Hazlitt,  that  beauty  was  entirely  dependent 
on  custom.  I  feel,  with  Hazlitt  himself,  that  custom, 
though  powerful,  is  not  the  only  principle  of  our  prefer- 
ence for  the  appearance  of  certain  objects  more  than 


112     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFEICA 

others ;  that  what  constitutes  beauty  is  in  some  way  in- 
herent in  the  object,  and  that  "if  custom  is  a  second 
nature  there  is  another  nature  which  ranks  above  it." 
Hazlitt  in  his  argument  contrasts  the  Greek  and  the 
African  face,  doing  injustice,  I  believe,  to  the  latter. 
Yet  in  general  one  must  admit  that  Hazlitt  is  right.  In 
the  Greek  face  he  finds  a  conformity  to  itself,  a  symmetry 
of  feature  with  feature  and  a  subtle,  involuted  harmony  of 
lines,  which  he  says  is  wholly  wanting  in  the  African  face. 
The  Greek  face  is  beautiful,  ' '  because  it  is  made  up  of 
lines  corresponding  with  or  melting  into  each  other;" 
the  African  face  is  not  so,  l  i  because  it  is  made  up  almost 
entirely  of  contradictory  lines  and  sharp  angular  pro- 
jections." 

"  The  general  principle  of  difference  between  the  two 
heads  is  this  :  The  forehead  of  the  Greek  is  square  and 
upright,  and,  as  it  were,  overhangs  the  rest  of  the  face, 
except  the  nose,  which  is  a  continuation  of  it  almost  in 
an  even  line.  In  the  Negro,  or  African,  the  tip  of  the 
nose  is  the  most  projected  part  of  the  face ;  and  from  that 
point  the  features  retreat  back,  both  upwards  towards 
the  forehead,  and  downwards  towards  the  chin.  This 
last  form  is  an  approximation  to  the  shape  of  the  head 
of  the  animal,  as  the  former  bears  the  strongest  stamp  of 
humanity." 

The  African  physiognomy,  he  further  observes,  is 
made  up  of  jagged,  cross-grained  lines,  starting  out  in 
every  oblique  direction,  and  in  fact  appears  "splitting 
in  pieces." 

But  the  African  physiognomy  is  also  consistent  with 
itself ;  its  abruptness  is  uniform.  There  is  regularity  in 
the  violence  of  its  changes  ;  and  may  not  this  also  con- 
stitute beauty  to  an  accustomed  eye !  It  is  certain  that 
there  is  in  such  a  face  the  possibility  of  an  extraordinary 
expression  of  grandeur  and  moral  force ;  and  these  also 


THE  "  CANNIBAL  "  FANG  113 

are  aspects  of  beauty,  as  well  as  the  intellectual  and 
affectional  elements  that  constitute  the  expression  of  the 
Greek  face.  There  is  a  beauty  of  mountains  as  well  as 
of  meadows. 

However  it  may  be,  we  who  have  lived  long  among 
the  Africans,  and  without  the  distemper  of  racial 
prejudice,  do  invariably  find  that  our  ideas,  or  our 
standards,  gradually  undergo  such  a  change  that  the 
African  face  appears  to  us  in  varying  degrees  of  beauty, 
much  as  that  of  the  white  ;  beauty  which  at  first  we  did 
not  see.  Even  the  nose,  which  bears  a  striking  resem- 
blance to  the  ace  of  clubs,  at  length,  with  custom,  ceases 
to  appear  ugly,  and  seems  the  absolutely  proper  nose  for 
the  African  physiognomy.  And  they  surely  have  beauti- 
ful eyes. 

Yet  one  must  admit  that  it  is  not  eyes,  nor  noses,  nor 
even  faces,  but  legs,  that  are  most  in  evidence  in  African 
society.  I  suppose  it  is  because  we  are  not  used  to  see- 
ing those  honourable  and  useful  members  exposed  that 
they  are  so  conspicuous.  Looking  at  an  African  crowd, 
especially  when  seated  on  the  ground  as  in  a  village  serv- 
ice or  listening  to  a  native  " palaver,"  with  their  knees 
elevated  in  front  of  them,  there  seems  to  be  ten  times 
as  many  legs  as  people.  Their  variety  also  commands 
attention.  There  are  long  legs  and  short  legs,  lean  legs 
and  fat  legs,  straight  legs  and  crooked  legs,  gnarled  legs, 
knotted  legs,  brown  legs  and  black  legs. 

Probably  nowhere  in  the  world  is  life  more  primitive. 
How  little  a  man  can  live  on  !  How  much  he  can  do 
without !  An  African  can  be  happy  with  a  pot,  a  pipe 
and  a  tom-tom.  I  have  shown  some  of  them  a  wheel  for 
the  first  time,  making  use  of  a  toy,  and  have  explained 
its  use  while  they  wondered.  At  Vivi,  on  the  Congo, 
they  tell  that  when  they  began  to  build  the  railroad  they 
unloaded  a  shipment  of  wheelbarrows  and  ordered  the 


workmen  to  use  them  in  removing  the  debris.  A  little 
later  they  observed  the  workmen  marching  in  single  file 
with  the  loaded  wheelbarrows  on  their  heads.  They 
have  only  the  vaguest  idea  of  passing  time.  They  never 
know  their  own  ages,  of  course  ;  neither  can  they  under- 
stand why  anybody  should  want  to  know.  A  man  of 
middle  age  makes  a  serious  guess  that  he  is  ten  years 
old.  A  French  judge  in  Senegal  tells  how  that  a  man, 
brought  before  him,  gave  his  age  as  five  years — when  he 
had  been  weaned  at  least  twenty-five. 

The  Fang  when  they  first  come  from  the  interior  go 
almost  entirely  naked.  The  men  wear  a  bit  of  bark- 
cloth,  the  women  a  few  leaves,  children  to  the  age  of  nine 
or  ten  years  wear  nothing.  But  as  soon  as  they  come  in 
contact  with  coast  people  they  all  begin  to  wear  imported 
cloth.  A  chief  soon  attains  the  dignity  of  a  shirt.  If 
they  have  little  use  for  clothes  they  are  passionately  fond 
of  ornamentation.  When  they  first  come  from  the  in- 
terior they  are  fairly  loaded  with  beads  and  brass,  the 
latter  made  into  heavy  arm-rings,  leg-rings,  neck-rings 
and  coiled  bracelets  which  cover  the  entire  forearm.  At 
first  they  regard  clothes  also  as  ornamentation  and  they 
think  that  white  people,  in  comparison  with  them,  are 
exceedingly  vain. 

I  was  holding  a  service  in  a  Bulu  town  when  a  woman 
entered  and  immediately  engaged  the  attention  of  the 
feminine  portion  of  the  audience.  On  the  preceding  day 
she  had  visited  the  mission  and  I  had  dressed  and  band- 
aged an  ulcer  on  her  leg.  The  white  bandage  had  caught 
her  fancy  and  she  removed  it  that  she  might  keep  it 
clean  ;  and  now  she  came  to  the  service  with  it  round  her 
neck.  The  women  looked  at  her,  drew  a  long  loud 
breath  and  nudged  their  neighbours.  It  was  very  plain 
that  in  their  opinion  she  was  much  overdressed.  And, 
strange  to  say,  she  impressed  me  in  that  same  way.  At 


THE  "CANNIBAL"  FANG  115 

least,  compared  with  the  others,  she  looked  as  if  she 
might  be  dressed  for  a  sleigh-ride. 

The  staple  food  of  the  Fang  is  cassava — that  which 
Stanley  calls  manioc — which  is  the  root  of  a  shrub,  a  little 
like  our  elder  in  appearance,  from  which  our  tapioca  is 
prepared.  They  use  it  however  in  a  much  coarser  form 
than  tapioca.  The  root  is  left  macerating  in  water  for 
several  days  which  has  the  effect  of  removing  certain 
poisonous  principles.  Then  it  is  placed  in  a  wooden 
trough  and  beaten  into  a  mass  with  a  wooden  pestle. 
After  this  it  is  made  into  straight  slender  rolls  a  foot 
long,  wrapped  in  plantain  leaves,  bound  around  with 
fibre  and  boiled.  It  tastes  a  little  like  boiled  tapioca. 
But  whereas  we  are  accustomed  to  eat  the  tasteless  tapi- 
oca with  cream  and  sugar,  the  native  has  neither  of 
these  and  thinks  himself  very  fortunate  if  he  has  a  little 
salt  to  season  it.  Sometimes  in  travelling  I  have  used 
it  for  several  days;  but  I  have  improved  it  by  frying 
it  in  butter.  The  cassava  when  properly  prepared  is 
evidently  wholesome;  but  one  may  frequently  see  it 
soaking  in  a  dirty,  stagnant  pool,  the  same  pool  that 
the  whole  town  has  used,  for  that  and  other  purposes, 
week  after  week  and  month  after  month.  No  one  can 
imagine  the  variety  of  germs  that  it  may  soak  up  during 
the  several  days  that  it  lies  in  such  a  pool.  The  native 
is  chronically  full  of  worms.  He  knows  it  and  attributes 
most  pain  to  their  presence.  In  declaring  that  he  has  a 
headache  he  places  his  hand  on  his  forehead  and  says  : 
"  Worms  are  biting  me."  A  little  kind  teaching  in  the 
better  preparation  of  their  food  would  be  good  missionary 
employment. 

Besides  cassava,  they  have  plantains,  bananas,  sweet 
potatoes,  corn,  groundnuts  and  a  few  other  foods  that  are 
less  common.  None  of  these  food  products  are  indige- 
nous. Most  of  them,  including  even  cassava,  it  is  said, 


116     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

were  introduced  by  the  Portuguese,  at  intervals  within 
the  last  three  hundred  years.  Meat  is  not  regarded  as  a 
necessity,  although  there  is  a  chronic  hunger  for  it,  to 
which  some  have  attributed  their  practice  of  cannibal- 
ism. In  most  towns  there  are  a  few  goats  and  sheep  and 
chickens;  but  they  are  reserved  for  feasts  and  festive 
occasions.  They  hunt  and  trap  all  the  wild  animals  of 
the  forest  and  are  not  averse  to  eating  any  of  them,  in- 
cluding snakes,  even  in  an  advanced  stage  of  decomposi- 
tion. On  the  lower  Gaboon  they  have  abundance  of  fish, 
which  they  catch  with  various  baskets,  nets,  and  seines. 
There  are  certain  insects,  grubs  and  caterpillars  which 
they  also  eat.  One  day  a  boy  reported  to  me  that  the 
natives  of  a  near-by  town  had  found  a  bee-tree,  and  they 
wished  to  know  whether  I  would  buy  the  honey.  Buy 
it!  I  should  think  so  !  I  could  scarcely  wait  for  it. 
They  brought  it  at  length ;  but  instead  of  smoking  the 
bees  out,  they  had  smoked  them  in ;  they  offered  me  a 
great  mass  of  honey  and  grubs  and  dead  bees. 

They  do  not  eat  eggs ;  neither  do  they  ever  drink  milk 
or  use  it  in  any  form  and  our  use  of  it  is  somewhat  dis- 
gusting to  them.  A  friend  once  offered  milk  to  a  Kru- 
boy  just  to  try  him,  and  he  replied  contemptuously : 
"  Milk  be  fit  only  for  piccaninny  ;  I  no  be  piccaninny." 

They  have  seen  white  men  milk  the  goat,  which  always 
requires  a  number  of  natives  to  hold  the  animal.  And 
once  when  Mr.  Gault  of  Batanga  was  explaining  to  a 
group  of  natives  about  the  cow,  which  gives  the  milk 
that  we  import  in  tins,  describing  her  size  and  her  great 
horns,  one  of  the  natives  suddenly  turning  to  the  others 
exclaimed:  "Say,  he  is  lying.  How  could  they  hold 
her?  "  Since  that  time  most  of  them  have  seen  cattle. 

The  Fang  wife  prepares  the  food  for  her  husband 
and  sets  it  in  the  palaver-house,  or  public-house  of  the 
town,  where  he  eats  with  the  other  men.  She  does  not 


THE  «  CANNIBAL  "  FANG  117 

eat  with  them.  There  is  no  regular  time  in  the  day  for 
eating  ;  and  when  they  have  begun  to  eat  there  is  no 
regular  time  for  stopping.  The  quantity  of  food  is  the 
only  limit.  On  a  journey  they  can  go  without  food  a 
very  long  time,  far  surpassing  the  endurance  of  the  white 
man.  And  they  are  often  compelled  to  travel  with  empty 
stomachs  from  their  habit  of  eating  all  their  food  the  first 
day.  But  afterwards  they  will  make  up  for  this  absti- 
nence, however  prolonged.  Indeed,  it  is  by  their  glut- 
tony, rather  than  in  other  ways,  that  they  first  exhibit 
their  degradation  to  the  white  man.  I  have  said  that  the 
children  were  usually  pretty ;  but  sometimes  they  are 
dreadfully  misshapen  by  a  distended  stomach.  The  last 
mail  brought  me  a  charming  picture  of  a  little  three-year- 
old  missionary  boy  of  Gaboon,  prodding  the  stomach  of  a 
native  child  with  his  finger,  and  with  eyes  of  wonder, 
asking  :  "  Is  dat  your  tummy  ?" 

One  of  their  first  efforts,  after  coming  in  contact  with 
the  white  man,  is  an  attempt  to  acquire  the  noble  art  of 
eating  with  a  spoon.  But  in  the  first  practice  of  it  if 
they  forget  themselves  for  a  moment  they  are  very  likely 
to  put  the  hand  to  the  mouth  in  the  old  way  and  drive  the 
spoon  round  to  the  ear.  Considering  their  ignorance 
they  are  surprisingly  cleanly  in  their  persons  and  their 
habits.  After  eating  they  invariably  rinse  their  mouths 
with  water  and  they  regularly  brush  their  teeth.  For  the 
latter  purpose  they  commonly  use  a  brush  of  soft  wood 
with  transverse  ridges.  They  are  very  particular  about 
this.  Often  a  carrier  in  the  bush  will  carry  his  brush  along 
with  him.  Sometimes  it  is  the  sum-total  of  his  personal 
effects.  Everybody  knows  that  the  African  has  beautiful 
teeth.  But  in  some  tribes,  and  even  among  the  Fang  of 
the  far  interior,  they  often  file  the  front  teeth  to  a  point, 
thinking  to  add  to  their  beauty,  but  in  fact  adding 
greatly  to  their  ugliness. 


118     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

I  have  said  that  the  Fang  are  cannibals.  But  this 
loathsome  custom  is  not  as  common  among  them  as 
travellers  have  generally  reported.  I  doubt  whether  the 
Fang  eat  any^but  their  enemies — captives  taken  in  war. 
And  their  chronic  meat-hunger  is  not  the  only  reason  for 
eating  their  enemies.  It  is  done  as  an  insult  to  the 
enemy,  the  most  deadly  insult  that  can  be  offered,  and 
means  that  the  war  will  be  fought  to  a  finish,  or  at  least 
until  the  other  side  has  eaten  one  of  the  enemy.  But  the 
practice  of  cannibalism  in  war  is  intimately  related  to 
fetishism.  It  is  believed  that  after  eating  one  of  the 
enemy,  the  latter  can  do  them  no  harm.  Their  bullets 
will  glance  harmlessly  off  their  bodies,  or  will  even  go 
through  them  without  hurting,  if  indeed  they  hit  them  at 
all.  Cannibalism  affords  them  the  strongest  possible 
fetish  protection. 

The  cannibalism  of  the  Upper  Congo  tribes  is  much 
worse  than  this  and  is  almost  indescribable.  Some  of 
them  eat  their  own  dead.  Sir  Harry  Johnston  tells  us 
that  the  Basoko  tribe  bury  none  but  their  chiefs.  Others, 
who  would  not  eat  their  own  dead,  exchange  them  for  the 
dead  of  a  neighbouring  clan. 

This  vicious  taste  often  becomes  a  mania  with  the 
African,  an  obsession,  like  the  ungovernable  appetite  for 
rum,  until  he  thinks  of  man  chiefly  as  food  to  satisfy  this 
craving.  Among  such  tribes  raids  are  made  on  their 
neighbours  for  the  express  purpose  of  cannibalism.  Sir 
Harry  Johnston  speaks  of  the  son  of  a  celebrated  chief 
who  once  exclaimed:  "Ah!  I  wish  I  could  eat  every- 
body on  earth  ! "  and  also  of  a  Bangala  chief  who  ate  his 
seven  wives  in  succession,  inviting  his  friends  and  close 
associates  to  the  feast.  It  is  more  than  possible  that 
these  lowest  forms  of  cannibalism  are  due  to  the 
demoralization  incident  to  the  slave-raids  of  the  Arabs. 
The  Arabs  were  succeeded  by  the  Belgians  j  but  some  of 


THE  "CANNIBAL"  FANG  119 

those  who  are  best  qualified  to  judge  think  that  the 
regime  of  the  Belgians  has  been  worse  than  that  of  the 
Arabs. 

Among  tribes  to  whom  such  forms  of  cannibalism 
would  be  revolting,  there  are  probably  individual  in- 
human ghouls,  who  exhume  the  bodies  of  the  dead  in  the 
night  and  eat  them.  And  it  may  be  from  this  fact  that 
witches  are  always  accused  of  eating  people. 

If  it  be  true,  then,  throughout  the  entire  Fang  tribe, 
that  they  eat  only  their  enemies  it  will  be  seen  that  their 
cannibalism  is  very  different  in  extent  and  even  in  loath- 
someness from  that  of  some  other  tribes.  It  is  a  fact, 
however,  that  the  cannibal  tribes  are  not  necessarily 
lower  than  the  others,  but  may  be  quite  as  gentle  and 
tractable  and  quite  as  capable.  And  from  this  some  have 
argued  that,  after  all,  our  horror  of  cannibalism  is  purely 
conventional,  due  to  custom  and  training  ;  and  that  there 
is  no  essential  difference  between  eating  human  flesh  and 
that  of  the  lower  animals,  except  in  imagination.  But 
the  readiness  with  which  whole  tribes  renounce  the 
custom,  become  ashamed  of  it,  and  contract  the  white 
man's  abhorrence  for  it,  confirms  the  belief  that  it  is  never 
legitimate  and  must  always  be  regarded  as  a  vice.  In 
such  matters  imagination  may  be  closer  to  our  moral 
natures  than  we  know. 

A  certain  town  on  the  Gaboon  named  Alum — when  I 
left  Africa  I  knew  personally  most  of  the  men,  women 
and  children  of  the  town — is  populated  by  one  of  the  most 
intractable  clans  of  the  Fang.  Though  peculiarly  fierce 
in  war,  they  are  otherwise  gentle  and  courteous.  The 
venerable  chief  I  regarded  as  a  particular  friend.  He 
had  a  long  beard — somewhat  rare  among  the  Fang  and 
highly  esteemed.  It  was  braided  tightly  and  tied  on  the 
end  with  a  string  as  venerable  as  the  beard  itself.  The 
braid  was  not  for  fashion  or  beauty.  It  was  intended  to 


120     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFEICA 

prevent  the  possible  loss  of  stray  hairs  that  might  fall 
into  the  hands  of  an  enemy  and  be  used  as  a  powerful 
fetish  against  him.  Upon  my  leaving  the  town  at  the 
conclusion  of  a  visit  it  was  in  accord  with  custom  for  him 
to  express  his  personal  regard  for  me  by  taking  my  hand 
in  his  and  spitting  in  it.  In  order  to  appreciate  this 
beautiful  custom  one  must  regard  it  spiritually — if  he  can. 
It  is  called  "  blowing  a  blessing."  The  blessing  is  blown 
with  the  breath  and  the  spitting  is  a  trivial  accessory. 

It  was  when  these  people  first  migrated  from  the  in- 
terior bush  that  the  following  incident  occurred — which 
was  told  to  me  by  Sonia  of  Gaboon  who  knew  all  the  per- 
sons concerned.  A  certain  man's  wife  having  several 
times  eloped  with  a  man  of  another  town  and  having 
caused  the  husband  much  trouble  and  humiliation,  he  at 
last  became  so  enraged  that  instead  of  seeking  to  procure 
her  return  he  determined  upon  a  bloody  revenge.  With 
several  companions  he  immediately  started  in  a  canoe  for 
the  town  where  her  father  and  mother  lived,  arriving  be- 
fore they  had  heard  the  news  of  their  daughter's  latest 
elopement.  At  some  distance  from  the  town  they  left  the 
canoe  and  entered  the  forest.  All  the  others  of  the  party 
hid  themselves  near  the  path  while  the  man  himself  went 
on  to  the  town  and  professed  to  have  come  just  to  make 
his  mother-in-law  a  friendly  visit.  Addressing  her  as 
Mother,  he  told  her  that  he  had  killed  a  bush-pig  in  the 
forest  and  that  he  had  come  to  ask  her  to  go  with  him  to 
get  some  of  it  before  he  should  take  it  home.  The 
woman,  without  doubting,  followed  him  along  the  path. 

After  a  while  she  said:  "Son,  it  is  far  and  I  am 
old." 

He  told  her  that  it  was  only  a  short  distance  ahead  ;  so 
she  went  on. 

Soon  again  she  exclaimed  :  "  Ah,  son,  it  is  very  far  and 
I  am  old." 


THE  "CANNIBAL"  FANG  121 

He  replied  that  it  was  now  very  near,  thus  enticing  her 
far  from  town. 

At  last  he  exclaimed  :  "  Mother,  here  it  is ! " 

At  his  word  the  party  in  ambush  sprang  upon  her  and 
with  their  swords  killed  her.  They  then  cut  from  her 
body  one  entire  leg,  which  they  took  to  their  town  and 
ate.  He  had  avenged  his  injured  dignity  and  had  re- 
moved his  shame.  He  had  no  longer  any  reason  to  feel 
ashamed ! 

He  sent  a  brief  message  to  the  unfaithful  wife  :  "Stay 
where  you  are  ;  the  palaver  is  finished." 

I  must  say  that  this  incident  is  not  fairly  representa- 
tive of  the  African  savage.  Not  that  it  exaggerates  his 
brutality,  when  he  is  enraged  ;  but  there  is  in  it  an 
element  of  treachery  which  is  oriental  rather  than  African. 
He  does  not  usually  conceal  his  auger,  but  hastens  to  ex- 
press it  in  passionate  words.  And  when  one  has  suc- 
ceeded in  allaying  his  passion  and  soothing  his  feelings, 
and  he  has  again  smiled  and  sworn  friendship,  one  may 
reckon  assuredly  that  the  palaver  is  ended  and  that  the 
smile  does  not  conceal  malice  nor  intent  of  revenge.  He 
is  passionate  but  not  vindictive,  cruel  but  not  treacher- 
ous. 

A  few  years  have  made  such  changes  that  the  Fang  of 
the  Gaboon,  instead  of  boasting  of  cannibalism,  would  in- 
dignantly deny  it.  In  the  interior  they  still  practice  it 
as  an  insult  to  the  enemy.  But  on  the  Gaboon  they  in- 
sult the  enemy  by  charging  it  against  them. 

"The  African,"  says  Booker  T.  Washington,  "lives 
like  a  child,  in  the  realm  of  emotion  and  feeling."  And 
a  white  man  among  Africans  lives  much  in  that  same 
realm.  His  experience  is  largely  a  succession  of  con- 
trasting emotions.  Sick  with  disgust  and  hopelessness, 
when  brought  into  contact  with  such  loathsome  features 
of  degradation  as  we  have  been  considering,  he  consigns 


122     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFEICA 

the  whole  black  race  to  perdition,  and  anon  some  pa- 
thetic circumstance  reveals  a  wealth  of  moral  possibili- 
ties, which  touches  the  heart  and  makes  him  ashamed ; 
some  unconscious  action  of  real  friendship  and  confidence 
in  the  white  man,  it  may  be  ;  some  expression  of  the  pro- 
found affection  on  the  part  of  a  savage  towards  his  mother 
and  children ;  or  some  rude  work  of  art  which  he  dis- 
plays with  pride,  something  upon  which  he  has  expended 
astonishing  labour  for  beauty's  sake  alone — crude  enough, 
to  be  sure,  but  giving  "thoughts  that  do  often  lie  too 
deep  for  tears."  He  has  a  shapely  stool  which  he  cuts 
out  of  a  solid  block  of  light  mahogany,  with  only  one 
tool,  a  rude  adz  of  his  own  making.  He  has  absolutely 
no  knowledge  of  joinery,  so  he  cuts  it  out  of  the  solid 
block,  expending  upon  it  an  amount  of  patient  labour  of 
which  he  is  usually  considered  incapable.  He  also  pyro- 
graphs  it  with  artistic  decorations.  Why  all  this  labour 
when  the  solid  block  itself  is  quite  as  serviceable,  and  far 
more  stable  ?  He  has  an  inward  sense  of  beauty  to  which 
he  must  make  it  conform,  an  ideal  which  commands  him 
and  which  he  strives  to  execute.  The  brass  handle  of  his 
sword  he  decorates  by  ingenious  and  not  unskillful  re- 
pousse1 designs.  The  mats  that  the  women  weave  are 
decorated  with  patterns  in  colours,  requiring  care  and 
skill  in  their  making. 

The  curiosity  of  those  who  have  not  seen  a  white  man 
before,  or  are  not  used  to  seeing  him,  is  unbounded  and 
at  first  attaches  to  everything  that  he  possesses.  Magic 
is  their  easy  explanation  of  everything  they  do  not  un- 
derstand. A  match  (until  they  become  accustomed  to  it) 
will  scatter  a  crowd  as  quickly  as  a  Gatling  gun.  It  is 
the  supernatural  of  which  they  are  most  afraid  ;  as  with 
us,  those  who  believe  in  ghosts  are  more  afraid  of  them 
than  the  worst  of  living  enemies. 

Nothing  of  ours  is  more  wonderful  or  more  desired 


THE  "  CANNIBAL  "  FANG  123 

than  the  looking-glass.  Yet  they  are  not  always  conceited 
in  regard  to  their  appearance.  One  poor  interior  woman, 
seeing  her  face  in  the  looking-glass  for  the  first  time, 
sank  to  the  ground  with  a  little  cry,  and  said  :  "  I  did 
not  think  I  was  so  ugly." 

Their  wonder  is  not  always  directed  as  we  would  ex- 
pect. It  is  not  the  greatest  achievement  that  excites  the 
greatest  wonder.  One  day,  after  my  return  to  America, 
in  company  with  a  friend  I  was  passing  one  of  the  great- 
est buildings  of  Chicago,  when  tho  friend  said  :  "  What 
would  your  Africans  think  of  such  a  building?  " 

"My  Africans,"  I  replied  (pointing  to  a  man  on  the 
corner  with  a  tin  monkey  climbing  a  string),  "  would  be 
so  entirely  occupied  with  that  tin  monkey  climbing  a 
string  that  you  could  not  get  them  to  look  at  the  build- 
ing." 

In  the  invention  of  the  monkey  they  would  have  some 
comprehension  of  the  difficulties  to  be  overcome,  while 
not  knowing  how  it  had  been  accomplished  ;  hence  the 
mystery.  But  in  the  case  of  the  great  building  they  have 
no  present  knowledge  which  would  enable  them  in  any 
measure  to  realize  the  difficulties,  or  the  principles  in- 
volved. The  African  wonders  most  at  those  things  which 
bear  some  relation  to  his  present  knowledge.  For  won- 
der is  not  exactly  an  expression  of  ignorance,  as  it  has 
been  called,  but  rather  an  expression  of  imperfect  knowl- 
edge. 

All  things  in  our  possession  of  which  they  did  not 
know  the  use  were  regarded  as  fetishes.  I  wore  glasses 
when  studying.  One  day  at  Efulen  I  came  out  of  the 
house  with  the  glasses  on.  A  group  of  women  were 
standing  in  front  of  the  house  ;  and  several  of  them,  see- 
ing me  look  at  them  through  the  glasses,  fell  flat  on  the 
ground  ;  whereupon  I  discovered  that  they  supposed  my 
glasses  were  a  fetish  by  which  I  might  (as  one  of  them 


124     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

said)  turn  them  into  monkeys.  They  supposed  that  we 
were  "spirits,"  and  so  they  called  us.  Looking  at  my 
black  shoes  one  of  them  exclaimed  :  "  The  spirit's  hands 
and  face  are  white,  but  his  feet  are  black,  and  I  suppose 
the  rest  of  his  body  is  black." 

Another  said:  "The  spirit  has  feet,  but  he  has  no 
toes." 

Another  said  :  "  "What  an  ugly  colour  !  But  he  would 
be  a  beauty  if  he  were  black." 

Dear  reader  :  Were  you  ever  an  object  of  curiosity  I 
Of  course  you  have  been  on  some  single  occasion — for  a 
passing  moment,  or  even  a  whole  evening.  But  I  mean 
day  after  day,  and  all  the  time,  for  an  indefinite  period. 
If  so,  you  have  my  profound  sympathy. 


vin 

MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS 

THE  Fang  is  a  resourceful  man,  though  he  has  no 
genius   for  mechanical  invention.     He   wrests 
from  nature  all  that  he  needs  and  does  not  de- 
pend upon  his  neighbour. 

He  lives  in  a  house  of  bark  or  bamboo  with  a  roof  of 
thatch,  for  which  he  gathers  the  materials,  and  builds  it 
all  himself.  In  his  primitive  condition  his  only  clothing 
is  bark-cloth  which  he  skillfully  hammers  out  of  fibrous 
bark.  With  the  fibre  of  the  pineapple,  he  weaves  a 
powder-pouch,  or  other  similar  convenience.  He  makes 
himself  an  excellent  canoe  and  is  scarcely  surpassed  as  an 
expert  in  its  management.  He  is  also  a  fisherman  ;  and 
he  knits  his  own  fish-net.  For  the  latter  he  now  uses 
imported  string ;  but  without  the  imported  string  he 
could  use  some  vegetable  fibre.  If  he  wishes  to  improve 
his  primitive  bed  of  poles  he  makes  a  grass  mat.  An 
old  woman  one  day  taught  me  the  art  of  mat-making.  I 
sat  beside  her  at  the  loom,  in  the  street,  and  worked  un- 
der her  supervision  until  she  declared  me  quite  proficient 
— so  much  so,  she  said  with  some  anxiety,  that  there  was 
no  need  of  my  doing  any  more.  The  African's  knowl- 
edge, too,  however  meagre,  is  as  varied  as  his  skill.  As 
he  becomes  civilized  he  will  specialize.  There  will  be 
division  of  labour  in  the  community  and  mutual  depend- 
ence upon  one  another.  No  doubt  he  will  gain  much  ; 
but  he  will  also  lose  something,  he  will  lose  in  resourceful- 
ness ;  he  will  lose  something  of  freedom  and  the  spirit  of 
independence.  And  unless  he  gain  much  in  that  which  is 

125 


126     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

moral  and  spiritual,  his  loss  will  be  a  misfortune  wholly 
grievous. 

I  venture  the  statement  that  the  African  is  not  lazy — 
at  least  not  very  lazy.  He  is  idle  not  so  much  because 
he  hates  work,  but  rather  because  he  is  unambitious  and 
the  unfortunate  victim  of  a  habit  of  content.  He  will 
not  work  for  the  sake  of  working,  because,  unlike  the 
white  man,  he  can  be  supremely  content  in  idleness. 
But  offer  him  something  that  he  really  desires  or  deems 
worth  while  and  he  will  work  amazingly.  There  are 
only  one  or  two  things  that  the  African  will  work  for  ; 
that  is  to  say  there  are  only  one  or  two  things  that  he 
wants. 

He  will  work  to  earn  a  dowry  in  order  to  marry  ; 
especially  if  he  has  in  mind  some  particular  woman  as 
the  prospective  wife.  Month  after  month  he  will  labour 
and  even  for  a  year  or  two  he  will  engage  in  the  hardest 
work.  But  just  as  the  white  master  is  about  to  reverse 
his  opinion  of  the  whole  black  race  and  proclaim  that 
they  are  the  greatest  workers  in  the  world  the  man  com- 
pletes the  amount  of  the  dowry,  and  immediately  he 
quits.  No  inducement  will  tempt  him  to  continue.  To 
offer  him  double  wages  would  only  lower  his  estimate  of 
your  intelligence.  He  will  work  for  an  end  that  he 
desires ;  but  the  ordinary  motives  of  the  white  man  do 
not  appeal  to  him  at  all.  He  will  never  work  for  the 
mere  sake  of  accumulating  wealth. 

The  men  do  all  the  building,  and  when  a  new  garden  is 
made  the  men  cut  down  the  trees.  Their  hardest  work 
is  incident  to  war  or  hunting,  but  it  is  occasional,  and 
most  of  their  time  is  spent  in  absolute  idleness.  The 
regular  work  is  done  by  the  women.  It  is  chiefly  that 
of  caring  for  the  gardens  (which  are  sometimes  far  from 
the  town),  carrying  home  the  produce,  gathering  wood 
and  carrying  it  from  the  forest,  and  cooking  the  food. 


MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS  127 

They  rise  at  daylight  and  start  for  the  gardens,  leaving 
the  care  of  the  babies  to  older  children  or  to  their  hus- 
bands. I  have  seen  the  husband  of  six  wives  taking  care 
of  several  hungry  babies  whose  mothers  have  been  long 
in  the  gardens  ;  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  he,  rather  than 
the  wives,  had  the  heavier  end  of  the  domestic  re- 
sponsibilities. 

There  is  one  other  instinct  besides  that  of  matrimony 
that  will  stir  the  dormant  energy  of  the  native,  and  that 
is  the  love  of  driving  a  bargain.  He  is  a  born  trader. 
But  if  prices,  however  high,  should  become  hopelessly 
fixed,  and  shrewdness  have  no  advantage,  I  am  not  sure 
that  he  would  care  any  more  for  the  trade. 

Wherever  a  foreign  government  has  not  interfered 
with  African  custom  the  produce  of  the  interior,  chiefly 
rubber  and  ivory,  is  carried  from  the  far  interior,  in 
brief  stages,  by  successive  caravans.  The  original  owners 
of  the  ivory  start  coastward  in  a  company.  Beyond  a 
certain  limit  they  cannot  go,  as  the  people  will  not  allow 
them  to  pass.  They  must  give  over  the  ivory  to  others 
who  will  carry  it  over  the  next  stage  and  in  turn  deliver 
it  to  others.  There  may  be  five  or  six  stages  in  the 
journey  to  the  coast.  The  first  company  when  they 
deliver  the  produce  to  the  next  do  not  return  home  but 
remain  in  the  town  of  the  second  company  until  their  re- 
turn, often  assuming  their  marital  relations  in  their  ab- 
sence. The  second  company  does  the  same  in  regard  to 
the  third,  and  the  others  likewise.  Since  the  goods 
received  in  payment  must  come  from  the  coast,  no 
bargain  is  made  until  the  return  journey.  The  last 
company  carries  the  ivory  to  the  coast  and  obtains  goods 
in  payment,  returning  to  their  town,  where  the  preceding 
company  is  waiting.  Then  follows  a  great  palaver  and 
oceans  of  oratory.  The  company  in  possession  seek  to  keep 
as  large  a  portion  as  possible  of  the  goods  and  to  give 


128     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

as  little  as  possible  to  the  interior  people.  The  palaver 
at  last  being  settled,  this  company  starts  for  home  and 
again,  after  an  exciting  palaver,  divides  the  goods  with 
the  next  company,  whom  they  find  still  waiting  for  them. 
This  is  repeated  with  each  successive  stage  until  at  last 
the  original  owners,  after  weeks  of  waiting,  get  a  small 
remainder  of  the  goods,  or  at  least  a  souvenir,  for  their 
ivory.  The  principal  satisfaction  is  perhaps  not  the 
actual  amount  of  the  goods,  but  the  big  palaver,  and  the 
driving  of  a  shrewd  bargain. 

With  the  establishment  of  the  European  government 
this  trade  method  is  sooner  or  later  reversed.  The  white 
trader  sends  native  sub-traders  into  the  interior  to  buy 
produce  as  directly  as  possible  from  the  original  owners. 
This  cuts  off  the  people  of  the  intermediate  stages  from 
what  they  regard  as  their  exclusive  right  of  participation 
as  middlemen.  The  dissatisfaction  usually  grows  until 
it  ends  in  war.  Germany  in  her  various  colonies  is 
frequently  engaged  in  this  one-sided  war  j  and  she  wages 
it  ruthlessly. 

Meantime  the  Fang  of  the  lower  Gaboon  and  some 
other  tribes  similarly  situated  have  found  far  better  em- 
ployment. The  Fang  raise  food — cassava  and  plantains — 
for  the  market  at  Libreville.  For  there  are  usually  about 
seventy-five  white  men  in  Gaboon,  all  of  whom  eat  plan- 
tains ;  and  there  are  throngs  of  natives,  servants  of  the 
white  men,  and  others  employed  by  the  government. 
Besides,  the  Mpongwe  women,  except  the  Christians,  are 
mostly  unwilling  to  care  for  gardens  and  they  must  buy 
food  for  themselves  and  their  families.  The  Fang  there- 
fore can  easily  sell  all  the  food  they  can  raise.  In  the 
morning  looking  from  the  mission-house  one  may  see  the 
bay  covered  with  white  sails  like  a  flock  of  sea-gulls — the 
sails  of  the  Fang  canoes  bringing  food  to  the  market. 
This  is  surely  the  best  fortune  that  can  fall  to  any  people 


MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS  129 

In  West  Africa.  While  it  still  gives  opportunity  for 
their  trade  instinct,  it  turns  them  to  agriculture,  the 
most  wholesome  of  all  occupations  for  such  a  people.  It 
keeps  them  at  home,  provides  healthful  work,  extends 
opportunity  to  all  and  distributes  prosperity. 

The  white  man  in  setting  out  for  Africa  divests  himself 
of  every  superfluous  possession  and  provides  only  for  the 
bare  necessities  of  life.  If  he  is  bound  for  the  interior 
he  must  feel  that  he  has  consecrated  himself  to  poverty. 
It  is  strange,  therefore,  and  surprising  to  find  the  natives 
regarding  his  meagre  stock  of  goods  as  fabulous  wealth 
and  himself  as  a  sort  of  multi-millionaire.  But  it  is 
stranger  still  that  he  himself  should  gradually  accept 
their  judgment  and  regard  himself  as  rich.  For  the 
sense  of  wealth  depends  upon  having  more  than  one's 
neighbours ;  and  there  is  no  feeling  of  privation  in  not 
being  able  to  procure  those  things  that  nobody  else  has. 
The  white  man's  privations  may  be  many,  but  they  are 
inevitable  ;  he  has  all  that  is  procurable  in  his  situation, 
and  far  more  than  those  around  him.  He  therefore  has  a 
comfortable  feeling  of  wealth,  the  more  pleasant  because 
unexpected. 

But  this  attitude  of  the  natives  towards  the  white 
man,  especially  in  new  tribes,  forebodes  trouble.  There 
is  not  much  danger  of  robbery  or  violence,  but  there  is 
danger  to  his  moral  influence.  A  kind  of  communism 
obtains  among  them.  A  man  having  our  "  abundance" 
would  divide  with  the  men  of  his  town,  all  of  whom  are 
related  to  him.  If  a  man  hunting  in  the  forest  should 
kill  a  monkey  or  a  python  he  will  bring  it  to  his  town 
before  he  cuts  it  up  and  it  will  be  divided  equally.  For 
this  reason  it  is  very  hard  to  buy  any  game  from  them  ; 
no  one  person  has  authority  to  sell  it.  Even  at  the  coast 
and  in  the  oldTsiemi-civilized  settlements,  when  a  native, 
after  being  employed  by  a  white  man,  returns  to  his  town 


130     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

with  his  wages  he  will  be  expected  to  assist  everybody  in 
the  town  who  happens  to  want  anything  and  has  not  the 
price — and  there  are  always  some  of  them  who  want  to 
get  married  and  have  not  succeeded  in  raising  the  dowry. 
So  the  wages  of  a  hard  year's  work  are  dissipated  in  less 
than  a  month.  It  is  hard,  but  it  is  custom.  It  cannot  be 
denied  that  the  custom  fosters  an  easy-going  content  and 
precludes  the  unhappiness  and  cruelty  of  worldly  ambi- 
tion. But,  with  ambition,  energy  also  and  industry  are 
discouraged  and  a  premium  is  put  upon  laziness.  The 
tyranny  of  custom  in  Africa  and  other  uncivilized  lands 
is  not  easy  for  those  to  realize  who  have  not  witnessed  it. 
It  is  "  the  only  infallible  rule  of  faith  and  practice." 

The  people  of  the  interior,  when  the  white  man  first 
goes  among  them,  invariably  expect  him  to  divide  his 
goods  with  them  just  as  soon  as  they  understand  that  he 
professes  to  be  their  friend.  Such  a  profession  seems 
hypocrisy  while  he  keeps  his  goods.  They  can  yield 
intellectual  assent  when  he  reasons  that  the  white  man 
has  a  right  to  his  own  customs  ;  but  in  the  consideration 
of  a  particular  custom  it  still  remains  that  theirs  is  right 
and  his  is  wrong  ;  and  when  they  actually  see  the  goods, 
greed  masters  reason  and  they  are  often  enraged. 

All  worldly  prosperity  in  Africa  depends  upon  the 
possession  of  proper  fetishes.  They  are  therefore  quick 
to  conclude  that  we  have  very  powerful  fetishes ;  and  it 
is  inevitable  that  before  long  they  should  conclude  that  the 
Bible  is  the  missionary's  fetish.  At  Efulen,  among  the 
Bulu,  when  we  had  been  there  but  a  short  time,  a  band  of 
men,  setting  out  upon  the  war-path  with  their  guns  upon 
their  shoulders,  marched  up  to  our  hill  and  asked  if  we 
would  give  them  a  Bible  to  take  with  them  to  make  their 
guns  shoot  straight  and  procure  their  success.  One  day 
Dr.  Good  missed  a  Bible.  It  had  been  stolen.  He  heard 
nothing  of  it  for  a  month ;  after  which  he  was  one  day 


MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS  131 

walking  through  a  native  village  where  the  people,  ex- 
pecting to  go  to  war  next  day,  were  preparing  a  very 
powerful  fetish  or  "  war-niedicine  "  by  boiling  together 
in  a  pot  several  of  their  most  reliable  fetishes ;  and  in 
the  boiling  pot  he  found  his  Bible. 

Perhaps  it  is  the  frequency  of  war  between  towns  that 
keeps  the  people  within  a  town,  or  in  a  company,  gener- 
ally at  peace  among  themselves.  It  is  surprising  how  one 
can  trust  workmen  or  carriers  or  schoolboys  to  divide 
their  food  without  quarrelling.  In  this  respect  they  far 
surpass  white  workmen,  or  white  schoolboys.  Where 
we  would  expect  a  quarrel  no  quarrel  occurs. 

And  then  again,  just  when  one  has  declared  that 
"Africans  never  quarrel,"  a  scandalous  quarrel  breaks 
out  over  some  infinitesimal  matter.  Individuals,  espe- 
cially women,  often  have  a  reputation  for  quarrelling. 
Some  towns  are  notorious.  I  once  visited  such  a  town, 
where  no  white  man  had  been  before.  I  found  the 
stormiest  people  I  ever  met  in  the  jungles.  During  the 
two  days  that  I  remained  in  the  town  there  occurred  an 
almost  continuous  succession  of  palavers,  each  of  which 
seemed  to  involve  the  whole  population  of  the  town — 
men,  women  and  children.  Long  after  they  went  into 
their  houses  for  the  night  some  of  them  continued  yelling 
their  auger  loud  enough  to  be  heard  by  all  whom  it  con- 
cerned. The  occasion  of  a  general  quarrel  the  day  that 
I  arrived  was  this  :  A  certain  man's  hen  had  laid  an  egg 
in  another  man's  house,  and  the  latter  man  had  kept  the 
egg.  The  town  was  rent  in  twain  over  the  ownership  of 
that  egg.  Forcible  arguments  were  presented  on  either 
side  but  without  avail.  Before  it  was  settled  something 
else  had  happened  that  required  a  vigorous  exercise  of 
lungs  for  its  adjustment,  and  the  egg  palaver  was  laid  on 
the  table.  There  was  not  a  spare  moment  in  which  to 
resume  it  before  I  left,  and  it  may  be  undecided  to  this 


132     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

day.  Even  while  I  was  preaching,  a  woman  in  the  con- 
gregation, sitting  immediately  in  front  of  me,  continued 
the  palaver,  occasionally  yelling  unladylike  remarks  to 
some  other  woman  whom  she  evidently  supposed  to  be  at 
the  end  of  the  universe.  In  all  such  quarrels  there  is 
much  of  bluff  and  bluster,  but  not  so  much  anger  as 
one  might  suppose.  Such  a  quarrel,  if  anything  should 
appeal  to  their  keen  sense  of  the  ridiculous  during  its 
progress,  might  break  up  in  a  laugh. 

When  two  Fang  women  engage  in  a  prolonged  quarrel 
— usually  sitting  immediately  within  the  door  of  their 
respective  houses  and  cursing  each  other  in  shrill  tones, 
heard  all  over  the  town — the  people  sometimes  become 
impatient  and  demand  that  they  shall  come  out  into  the 
street  and  fight.  I  have  witnessed  such  a  fight.  They 
prepare  for  it  by  throwing  off  even  the  shred  of  clothing 
that  they  wear.  They  fight  more  like  men  than  women 
— if  it  be  true  that  women  usually  scratch  and  pull  each 
other's  hair  when  they  fight.  When  one  of  them  is  re- 
peatedly thrown  to  the  ground  she  confesses  defeat.  At 
least  it  may  be  said  to  their  credit  that  this  usually  ends 
the  matter  ;  and  the  next  day  they  may  be  as  friendly  as 
ever. 

The  marriage  relation,  of  course,  dominates  all  customs 
and  is  the  foundation  of  the  whole  social  structure.  With 
the  Africans  love  is  not  so  closely  linked  with  sex  as 
among  most  modern  races.  Friendship  is  deemed  nobler 
than  romantic  love.  This  of  course  is  due  to  the  in- 
equality of  the  sexes ;  woman  is  not  regarded  as  fit  for 
companionship  with  men.  A  wife  is  expected  to  love  her 
own  people  more  than  her  husband.  A  man  loves  his 
brothers  and  his  friends  at  least  as  much  as  his  wife  ;  his 
children  he  loves  far  more,  and  his  mother  he  loves  most 
of  all.  Indeed,  his  love  of  his  mother  is  the  deepest  emo- 
tion of  his  heart  and  his  best  moral  quality.  The 


MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS  133 

African  young  and  old  thinks  he  has  fully  justified  the 
most  violent  assault  upon  another  when  he  says:  "He 
cursed  my  mother."  Any  uncomplimentary  reflection 
more  or  less  serious  is  a  "  curse." 

A  wife  is  Bought  with  a  price  and  is  part  of  a  man's 
wealth.  A  man's  wealth  is  always  reckoned  by  the  num- 
ber of  his  wives.  The  chief  of  the  town  is  the  man  who 
has  the  most  wives.  But  most  men  have  only  one  wife 
and  some  have  none,  because  they  cannot  procure  a 
dowry.  The  size  of  the  dowry  differs  in  different  tribes. 
Among  the  Fang  it  is  enormous,  considering  their  very 
primitive  condition.  The  following  dowry  was  paid  by  a 
Fang  near  the  coast :  ten  goats,  five  sheep,  five  guns, 
twenty  trade-boxes  (plain  wooden  chests  of  imported 
material),  one  hundred  heads  of  tobacco,  ten  hats,  ten 
looking-glasses,  five  blankets,  five  pairs  of  trousers,  two 
dozen  plates,  fifty  dollars'  worth  of  calico,  fifty  dollars' 
worth  of  rum,  one  chair  (with  one  leg  missing)  and  one 
cat. 

In  addition  to  such  a  dowry  a  man  is  required  to  make 
frequent  presents  to  his  wife's  relations,  who  may  be  ex- 
pected to  arrive  at  any  time,  and  in  any  number,  for  an 
indefinite  visit.  If  he  should  fail  in  this  they  will  in- 
duce his  wife  to  run  away  and  return  to  her  town,  and  it 
will  cost  him  many  presents  and  perhaps  a  war  to  get  her 
back  again. 

A  dowry  is  often  kept  intact  so  as  to  do  service  repeat- 
edly. A  man  is  fortunate  if  he  have  one  or  several 
sisters ;  for  with  the  dowry  which  he  procures  for  them  he 
will  get  himself  as  many  wives.  Children  are  frequently 
betrothed  to  each  other  by  their  parents.  A  girl  thus  be- 
trothed is  taken  to  her  husband's  town  and  raised  by  his 
mother.  Little  girls,  even  infants,  are  sometimes  be- 
trothed to  old  men.  I  knew  of  an  instance  where  a  child 
was  betrothed  before  it  was  born,  the  dowry  being  kept 


134:     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

intact  so  that  it  could  be  returned  in  case  the  child  should 
not  be  a  girl.  The  frequent  betrothal  of  little  girls  is 
partly  due  to  the  fact  that  less  dowry  is  paid  for  a  child 
than  for  "  a  whole  woman,"  as  the  Fang  would  say. 

For  those  who  are  not  so  fortunate  as  to  inherit 
a  dowry  or  to  have  a  sister  the  proper  thing  is  to  steal  a 
woman  from  some  adjoining  town.  Most  women  are  glad 
to  be  stolen  and  the  affair  is  often  an  elopement.  This 
will  precipitate  a  war  between  the  two  towns.  At  least 
nine  out  of  ten  wars  among  the  Fang  begin  this  way. 
After  several  or  many  have  been  killed  the  "  palaver  "  is 
settled  by  the  whole  town  paying  the  dowry. 

If  a  man  have  many  wives  it  is  regarded  as  magnani- 
mous for  him  to  take  little  notice  of  infidelity.  Seldom, 
however,  does  he  rise  to  this  level  of  magnanimity  and 
many  wives  mean  constant  palavers.  In  either  case  it 
means  boundless  immorality. 

The  aggrieved  husband,  in  a  case  of  adultery,  may 
punish  with  terrible  severity,  if  he  feel  so  disposed.  In 
some  tribes  it  is  punishable  with  death.  In  a  tribe  im- 
mediately south  of  the  Fang  the  injured  husband  fre- 
quently cuts  off  the  ears  and  even  the  nose  of  the  guilty 
woman.  In  one  instance  that  I  knew  of,  on  the  Ogowe 
River,  a  man  cut  off  his  wife's  nose  and  lips.  Among 
the  Fang  I  have  never  seen  such  mutilations,  but  in  the 
far  interior  the  practice  is  probably  not  unknown.  A 
man  suspecting  his  wife  of  wrong-doing,  especially  after 
a  prolonged  absence  from  town,  may  upon  the  impulse  of 
his  own  suspicion  and  without  a  shred  of  evidence  resort 
to  torture  to  compel  a  confession.  And  this  recalls  to  my 
mind  an  occasion  upon  which  I  administered  physical 
chastisement.  I  may  say  that  there  were  three  such  oc- 
currences during  more  than  twice  so  many  years,  and  that 
in  each  instance  the  occasion  of  my  wrath  was  the  out- 
rageous treatment  of  a  woman. 


MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS  135 

One  Sunday  morning  in  a  town  named  Angon  Nzok,  on 
a  branch  of  the  upper  Gaboon,  I  was  about  to  hold  a 
religious  service  when  I  heard,  in  the  other  end  of  the  town, 
a  woman  crying.  For  a  long  time  she  had  been  moaning 
and  crying  in  a  low  tone  which  had  escaped  my  atten- 
tion, though  I  heard  it.  But  now  there  followed  an  out- 
burst of  piteous  cries.  I  sprang  to  my  feet  and  ran  qui  ckly 
in  the  direction  of  the  cries  and  to  the  house  from  which 
they  seemed  to  issue,  but  the  door  was  closed  as  if  no  one 
were  within. 

At  first  I  thought  that  I  had  not  rightly  located  the 
sound,  but  I  was  told  that  a  man  and  his  wife  were  within 
the  closed  house,  the  man  torturing  his  wife  to  extort  a 
confession  of  unfaithfulness,  and  the  name  of  the  partner 
in  the  wrong.  The  closed  door  was  a  sign,  almost  sacred 
to  the  Fang,  that  no  man  must  enter,  but  I  disregarded  it. 
The  man  had  returned  from  a  journey,  and  without  the 
least  evidence  had  accused  the  woman  and  had  then  re- 
sorted to  torture  to  extort  a  confession. 

He  bound  the  woman's  hands  together,  palm  to  palm, 
by  means  of  two  bamboo  sticks,  which  passed  across  the 
back  of  the  hands,  the  ends  being  tightly  bound  together. 
Her  hands  were  then  raised  above  her  head  and  kept  there 
by  a  cord  which  was  attached  to  the  roof.  This  mode  of 
torture  may  not  seem  horrible  as  one  tells  it ;  but  it  really 
is  exceedingly  painful,  and  if  long  continued  is  enough 
to  drive  a  woman  mad.  The  man  at  the  moment  when  I 
entered  was  probably  tightening  the  cords  or  making 
them  more  secure ;  wherefore  the  screams  of  the  poor 
woman.  In  the  animated  exercise  which  followed  the 
revelation  of  what  was  occurring  behind  that  closed  door 
my  mind  retains  a  vivid  recollection  of  three  prominent 
and  important  movements.  The  first  movement  was  a 
kick  that  broke  the  door  in  and  landed  me  in  the  middle 
of  the  cabin  ;  the  second  was  another  kick  that  carried  the 


136     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFKICA 

man  to  the  door ;  the  third  was  another  kick  that  lifted 
him  into  the  street,  where  he  stood  paralyzed  with  aston- 
ishment and  rubbing  his  injuries.  It  took  only  a  moment 
to  cut  the  cords  and  set  the  woman  free.  I  then  went  out 
and  found  the  man,  who  of  course  was  not  much  hurt  but 
was  greatly  humiliated. 

"Now,"  I  said  to  him,  "  if  you  will  solemnly  promise 
never  to  do  this  again,  the  palaver  will  be  finished  and 
you  and  I  will  be  friends." 

After  a  brief  conversation  we  vowed  eternal  friendship 
and  he  came  to  the  service.  But  long  after  the  service  the 
woman  was  still  crying  with  the  pain,  while  other  women 
poured  warm  water  upon  her  tortured  hands,  and  mur- 
mured their  sympathy. 

It  may  be  supposed  that  this  man  would  carry  out  his 
purpose  when  I  had  left  the  town,  and  perhaps  with  in- 
creased severity.  But  this  he  would  not  do.  The  African 
is  peculiarly  superstitious  in  regard  to  interruptions. 
And  an  interruption  so  extraordinary  in  the  performance 
of  such  an  act  would  be  regarded  by  him  as  a  sign  that 
the  act  would  be  attended  by  misfortune  to  himself,  and 
he  would  not  repeat  it.  Nevertheless  I  thought  it  well  to 
keep  myself  carefully  informed  for  some  time,  so  that  in 
case  he  should  act  in  defiance  of  superstition  he  might 
not  be  disappointed  in  his  expectation  of  misfortune. 

A  man  may  punish  his  wife  for  any  misdemeanour  or 
neglect  of  duty  ;  and  many  of  them  bear  upon  their  backs 
ugly  scars  and  wounds  inflicted  by  the  sword  of  an  en- 
raged husband.  However  abused,  it  is  vain  for  her  to 
appeal  to  the  town  ;  for  ifc  is  the  town  of  the  husband's 
family,  and  she  is  the  stranger.  And,  besides,  the  say- 
ing among  them  is  that  you  must  never  tell  a  woman  that 
she  is  right,  lest  she  despise  her  husband. 

A  source  of  injustice,  in  the  case  of  polygamy,  is  the 
influence  of  the  head-wife  ;  for  every  man  who  has  sev- 


MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS  137 

eral  wives  recognizes  one  of  them  as  the  favourite,  and 
head  over  the  others.  Not  that  she  sits  in  idleness  while 
the  others  work  ;  for  it  is  more  likely  that  she  is  the 
favourite  because  she  works  well  and  cooks  well.  But 
she  has  every  opportunity  to  tyrannize  over  the  other 
wives  and  make  their  lives  a  bitter  bondage.  If  they  de- 
sire anything  from  the  husband  there  is  but  little  chance 
of  obtaining  it  unless  the  head- wife  favours  the  request. 
In  a  dispute  between  two  of  them  the  husband's  judg- 
ment would  depend  upon  the  head- wife.  She  exercises 
authority  over  all  his  children,  even  the  children  of  other 
wives. 

Yet,  not  to  leave  an  exaggerated  impression,  it  must  be 
said  that  there  is  much  less  quarrelling  than  one  would 
expect  between  wives  of  the  same  husband.  The  African 
wife  also  has  far  more  independence  in  actual  life  than 
their  theories  allow.  She  owns  the  garden,  and  her  hus- 
band is  dependent  upon  her  for  his  food.  If  she  runs 
away  she  leaves  him  much  the  poorer  ;  at  least  there  is 
always  a  risk  that  he  will  not  recover  either  her  or  the 
dowry.  And,  then,  he  is  mortally  afraid  of  her  tongue, 
her  chief  resource  ;  and  well  he  may  be  ;  for  in  an  out- 
burst of  passion  it  is  the  tongue  of  a  fiend,  and  scorches 
like  hell  fire.  Frequent  storms  of  unrestrained  passion 
give  to  the  face  of  the  woman  of  middle  age  a  permanent 
expression  of  weakness  and  dissipation.  She  is  the  vic- 
tim of  so  much  oppression  and  cruel  wrong  that  one 
would  like  to  depict  her  as  innocent ;  for  it  is  human 
nature  to  attribute  virtue  to  those  who  suffer.  But  it 
must  be  confessed  that  the  African  woman  is  at  least  as 
degraded  as  the  man.  He  is  more  cruel ;  but  she  is  more 
licentious. 

It  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  learn  the  attitude  of  the 
African  woman  towards  polygamy.  Still,  I  believe  it  is 
contrary  to  her  natural  instinct.  I  have  known  instances 


138     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

of  heathen  women  cursing  Christian  husbands  because 
they  would  not  marry  other  wives,  and  it  happens — 
though  infrequently — that  women  leave  their  husbands 
for  this  reason.  But  in  all  such  cases  I  believe  that  the 
woman  acts  upon  the  impulse  of  some  lower  motive  and 
at  the  expense  of  her  better  self.  In  civilized  lauds  are 
there  not  those  who  marry  for  wealth  or  social  position, 
even  without  love  ?  In  Africa,  wealth  and  social  position 
are  represented  by  a  plurality  of  wives.  The  wife  of  a 
monogamist  is  a  "  nobody,"  and,  besides,  has  an  unusual 
amount  of  work  to  do.  But  I  believe  that  the  majority 
of  women  in  Africa  have  in  them  enough  of  the  true 
woman  to  hate  polygamy.  Their  fables  and  folk-lore  are 
full  of  this  hatred. 

Certain  phases  of  polygamy  one  cannot  discuss  frankly. 
Children  are  not  weaned  until  the  age  of  two  or  three 
years.  During  this  period  of  lactation  the  husband  and 
wife  observe  absolute  continence  in  regard  to  each  other. 
But  he  has  other  wives  and  this  continence  imposes  no 
restraint  upon  him.  And  to  the  woman  it  is  a  source  of 
so  much  unhappiness  and  jealousy  that  she  frequently 
refuses  to  bear  children,  and  resorts  to  abortion.  This 
practice  of  abortion,  and  its  relation  to  polygamy,  is  cu- 
riously overlooked  by  those  who  advocate  polygamy  for 
Africa.  It  is  doubtless  more  common  in  some  tribes  than 
in  others. 

But  while  polygamy  is  obnoxious  to  the  woman's  in- 
stinct, it  is  impressed  upon  her  that  the  instinct  is  selfish 
and  ought  to  be  suppressed,  and  that  it  is  right  to  be 
willing  to  share  her  husband  with  other  wives.  It  is  just 
at  this  point  that  the  teaching  of  Christianity  makes  so 
strong  an  appeal  to  the  African  woman ;  and  her  re- 
sponse is  whole-hearted.  It  truly  "  finds"  her.  I  know 
women  in  Gaboon  who  have  suffered  inexpressible  hu- 
miliation and  grief  when  their  husbands  took  other 


MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS  139 

wives,  and  who  immediately  separated  from  them  and 
lived  their  remaining  years  in  widowhood. 

The  Orungu  tribe,  immediately  south  of  Gaboon,  from 
whom  I  often  obtained  workmen,  have  a  peculiarly  large 
body  of  stories  and  legends,  which  form  a  kind  of  commen- 
tary on  all  their  customs.  The  following  is  an  example  : 

Once  upon  a  time  there  was  a  very  great  king,  Ra- 
Nyambia,  who  had  many  sons  and  daughters,  and  whose 
servant  was  Wind.  Now,  one  of  this  king's  daughters, 
Ogula,  had  an  ngalo.  The  ngalo  is  a  very  powerful  fetish. 
Some  favoured  persons  are  born  with  it.  It  is  never  ac- 
quired by  others.  Ogula,  when  she  became  a  " whole" 
woman,  declared  that  she  was  not  willing  to  have  a  hus- 
band who  would  have  other  wives,  but  must  have  one 
who  would  be  all  her  own.  She  waited  a  long  time,  but 
found  no  man  who  was  fit  to  be  her  husband.  Then  she 
consulted  her  ngalo,  who  told  her  what  to  do.  One  day 
shortly  after  this,  when  her  father's  people  were  going 
hunting,  she  said  to  them:  "Find  for  me  a  wild  goat, 
and  do  not  kill  it,  but  bring  it  to  me  alive." 

So  the  hunters  brought  her  a  wild  goat ;  and  when 
Ogula  saw  it  she  said  :  "  It  is  well." 

She  then  requested  one  of  the  hunters  to  kill  the  wild 
goat  and  skin  it  most  carefully.  She  also  requested  an- 
other hunter  to  fill  her  canoe  with  water.  The  skin  she 
burned  in  the  fire  till  all  that  was  left  was  ashes,  and  the 
ashes  she  carefully  wrapped  in  plantain-leaves  and  put 
away  in  a  safe  place.  Then  she  commanded  that  the  en- 
tire body  of  the  wild  goat  should  be  placed  in  the  canoe, 
which  was  full  of  water.  There  she  left  it  for  three  days. 
On  the  third  day,  standing  beside  the  canoe,  she  ad- 
dressed her  ngalo  and  said  :  "Oh,  ngalo  mine,  turn  this 
goat  into  a  handsome  and  stylish  man." 

Immediately  there  leaped  out  of  the  canoe  a  very  hand- 
some and  stylish  man. 


140     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

Then  Ogula  sent  her  servants  to  her  father,  Ea- 
JsTyambia,  and  bade  them  say  to  him  that  she  had 
procured  a  husband  and  that  she  was  coming  to  present 
him  to  her  father.  Ea-Nyambia  made  ready  to  receive 
them  properly.  He  called  his  servant,  Wind,  and  told 
him  to  clean  up  the  street ;  whereupon  Wind  got  busy 
and  swept  the  street  clean.  And  Ea-Nyambia  put  on  his 
best  ornaments.  Soon  Ogula  appeared  with  her  new 
husband  walking  by  her  side,  while  all  the  people  fol- 
lowed in  astonishment  and  admiration,  saying  to  one 
another:  " Where  did  Ogula  get  this  handsome  and 
stylish  husband  ?  " 

Ea-Nyambia  was  greatly  pleased ;  and  Ogula  and 
her  husband  returned  to  her  house.  But  everywhere, 
through  all  the  towns,  there  went  out  a  report  of 
Ogula' s  handsome  and  stylish  husband. 

Now  there  lived  in  a  town  not  far  away  a  beautiful 
woman,  named  Ogondaga,  the  daughter  of  a  king ;  and 
Ogondaga  had  no  husband.  At  length  Ogondaga  said  : 
"  I  am  tired  of  hearing  of  Ogula' s  handsome  and  stylish 
husband.  This  day  I  shall  go  and  see  him  for  myself." 

She  ordered  her  father's  servants  to  take  her  in  a  canoe 
to  Ogula' s  town,  saying  also  to  her  father  that  she  would 
return  that  same  day.  This,  however,  she  did  not  intend 
to  do  ;  for  she  had  determined  to  win  the  love  of  Ogula' s 
husband.  Ogula  received  Ogondaga  very  kindly,  and 
when  her  husband  returned  from  the  forest  she  said  to 
him  :  "  This  is  my  friend  Ogondaga." 

In  the  evening  Ogondaga' s  servants  came  and  said  to 
her  :  "  It  is  time  to  go  home." 

But  she  replied :  "  You  must  go  without  me ;  for  I  am 
going  to  visit  my  friend  Ogula." 

Then  they  asked  her  when  they  should  return  for  her, 
and  she  said:  "You  need  not  come  for  me  at  all.  I 
shall  go  home  when  I  please." 


MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS 

Ogula  treated  Ogondaga  very  kindly,  and  gave  her 
plenty  to  eat  and  a  good  bed.  The  next  day  Ogula' s 
husband  said  to  her :  "I  love  Ogondaga  j  you  must 
speak  to  her  for  me.  Will  you  do  so  ?  " 

And  Ogula,  though  her  heart  was  sore,  said  :  "I  shall 
speak  to  her." 

This  she  did ;  and  her  husband  went  with  Ogondaga 
and  neglected  her.  The  next  day  they  had  work  to  do 
together  and  she  called  him  ;  but  he  was  angry.  And 
so  it  was  the  next  day,  and  the  next. 

Now  this  continued  for  four  days  ;  whereupon  Ogula, 
taking  some  of  the  ashes  of  the  goatskin,  which  she  had 
so  carefully  kept,  came  upon  her  husband  while  he  was 
washing,  and  suddenly  rubbed  the  ashes  upon  his  feet. 
Instantly  his  feet  were  changed  to  hoofs.  He  stamped 
upon  the  ground  and  cried  out :  "  What  is  this?  What 
is  this?" 

His  wife  replied  :  "It  is  nothing  at  all.  Why  don't 
you  go  out  on  the  street?  " 

Then  he  pleaded  with  Ogula  until  she  relented  and  by 
the  power  of  her  ngalo  changed  his  hoofs  again  into  feet. 
But  again  he  abandoned  her. 

Then  Ogula,  taking  all  the  ashes  of  the  goatskin,  and 
watching  her  opportunity,  while  he  was  washing  threw 
the  ashes  over  her  husband's  body,  saying:  "Go  back 
where  you  came  from." 

Immediately  her  handsome  and  stylish  husband  was 
changed  into  a  wild  goat  and  began  leaping  around  the 
room.  Ogula  opened  the  door,  outside  of  which  Ogondaga 
was  sitting,  and  the  goat  sprang  through  the  door  into 
the  street  and  scampered  off  into  the  forest,  while  all  the 
people  laughed  and  shouted,  saying  one  to  another : 
11  So,  Ogula' s  handsome  and  stylish  husband  was  only  the 
wild  goat  which  Ea-Nyambia's  people  caught  in  the 
forest." 


142     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

But  Ogula  turned  to  Ogondaga  and  said  :  "Do  you  see 
your  man  ?  Call  him  to  you.  He  always  comes  when 
you  call." 

Then  Ogula  called  Ogondaga' s  people  to  her  town. 
She  also  told  her  father,  Ba-Nyainbia,  to  prepare  for  a 
big  palaver.  So  Ba-Nyambia  called  Wind  and  told  him 
to  sweep  the  town  clean.  When  Ogondaga' s  people  came 
Ogula  brought  them  before  Ba-Nyambia,  together  with 
all  Ba-Nyambia's  own  people.  Then  Ogula  told  the 
whole  story :  How  she  had  got  a  handsome  and  stylish 
husband  for  herself ;  how  Ogondaga  came  ;  how  kindly 
she  had  received  her ;  how  she  was  even  willing  that 
Ogondaga  should  share  her  husband's  heart ;  and  how 
Ogondaga  had  taken,  not  a  part,  but  his  whole  heart. 

Finally  she  said  to  her  visitors  :  "  You  may  go  back 
now  to  your  town  ;  but  Ogondaga  is  not  going  with  you. 
She  must  stay  here  and  be  my  slave  as  long  as  she  lives." 

And  Ba-Nyambia  and  all  the  people  said  that  the 
judgment  was  just.  So  Ogondaga  became  Ogula' s  slave. 

And  that's  the  end  of  the  story. 

The  African  woman  is  not  cynical  enough  to  mean  that 
the  difference  between  a  man  and  a  goat  is  chiefly  a  mat- 
ter of  the  skin.  But  the  wild  goat  of  the  story  reminds 
one  inevitably  of  the  ancient  satyr,  which  was  half  man 
and  half  goat ;  which  men  also  imitated  in  pagan 
festivals,  covering  themselves  with  goatskins,  and  sing- 
ing and  dancing.  Hence  the  origin  of  the  word  tragedy, 
which  means  a  goatsong,  and  which  came  to  us  by  way 
of  the  Greek  drama,  which  was  developed  from  those 
early  religious  festivals. 

The  Fang  have  a  variety  of  amusements  to  which  they 
are  devoted.  They  have  many  games.  A  few  of  these 
are  always  associated  with  gambling.  But  their  chief 
and  constant  amusements  are  music,  dancing  and  story- 
telling. Of  music  I  have  already  said  enough. 


MANNERS  AND  CUSTOMS  143 

The  tom-tom  supplies  the  rhythm  for  dancing,  but  the 
melodies  are  vocal.  The  songs  are  solos  with  responsive 
chants  sung  in  chorus.  They  dance  with  the  whole  body, 
setting  in  motion  the  limbs,  head,  shoulders,  thighs  and 
stomach.  In  many  of  their  dances  they  simulate  love- 
making  or  hunting,  and  the  various  animals  they  pursue. 
Sometimes  the  movements  of  the  dance  are  very  obscene. 
Among  the  women  there  are  professional  dancers ;  and 
these  are  nearly  always  women  of  low  reputation.  Men 
and  women  sometimes — not  often — dance  simultaneously, 
but  never  in  couples,  nor  is  there  any  physical  contact 
between  them.  There  are  solitary  dancers,  men  and 
women,  who  dance  themselves  into  a  frenzy,  leaping  into 
the  air  or  whirling  round  and  round  until  they  fall  in  a 
swoon,  or  a  trance,  during  which,  or  immediately  upon 
recovering,  they  name  persons  who  are  guilty  of  witch- 
craft. 

But  no  person  is  more  popular  among  the  Africans 
than  a  good  story-teller.  There  are  professional  story- 
tellers whose  performances  correspond  to  those  of  the 
theatre  among  civilized  people.  One  of  these  takes  his 
place  in  the  middle  of  the  street  with  the  whole  popula- 
tion of  the  town  sitting  on  the  ground  before  him. 

"Shall  we  tell  a  story 1 "  he  says. 

"A  story  !  "  they  respond  in  chorus. 

"  Then  let  us  away  !  " 

"  Away  ! " 

In  such  a  story  as  that  of  "  Ogula  and  her  Ngalo,"  al- 
ready told  in  this  chapter,  the  story-teller  would  occa- 
sionally break  into  song  or  chanting  ;  whereupon  the 
audience  will  take  up  the  chant  as  a  refrain  and  repeat  it 
over  and  over,  until  he  is  ready  to  proceed  with  the 
story. 

The  African  is  a  born  story-teller.  And  we  should  ex- 
pect this  from  the  fact  that  he  is  the  most  sociable  man 


THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

in  the  world.  He  cannot  easily  be  killed  with  work  j 
but  isolation  will  kill  him  quickly.  The  old  men  sit  in 
the  palaver-house  all  their  spare  time  (that  is,  all  the 
time  between  naps  and  meals)  entertaining  and  amazing 
the  younger  generation  with  the  narration  of  their  past 
exploits — how  many  women  have  gladly  eloped  with 
them,  how  many  others  they  have  captured,  how  many 
enemies  they  have  killed  in  war,  and  how  they  have 
fought  wild  animals  with  unheard-of  bravery.  The  con- 
versation is  often  a  lying-match.  But  they  turn  out  in- 
teresting tales. 

An  old  man — a  famous  hunter  in  former  days,  accord- 
ing to  his  own  story — tells  at  great  length  of  a  fierce  fight 
between  a  leopard  and  a  gorilla  which  he  witnessed  ;  and 
having  at  last  exhausted  his  resources  of  invention,  but 
utterly  unwilling  that  the  story  should  end  in  an  anti- 
climax, he  tells  how  the  gorilla,  watching  an  opportunity, 
suddenly  seized  the  leopard's  tail  and  swung  him  around 
his  head  so  swiftly  that  the  leopard  was  hurled  into 
space  leaving  his  tail  in  the  gorilla's  hand.  Observing 
the  look  of  incredulity  in  the  faces  of  his  audience,  he 
gravely  adds : 

"  And  this  I  saw  with  my  own  eyes.  And  when  both 
the  leopard  and  the  gorilla  had  gone  I  picked  up  the  tail 
and  brought  it  home  to  my  town,  thinking  that  I  would 
use  it  to  keep  the  flies  off  my  back.  Many  people  of  the 
town  saw  this  tail ;  but  all  those  who  saw  it  are  dead. 
For,  you  see,  it  was  a  human  leopard  (a  leopard  that  was 
formerly  a  man)  and  it  haunted  the  town  so  long  as  the 
tail  was  there,  and  inflicted  a  plague  upon  the  people,  so 
that  every  one  who  saw  the  tail  died.  And  at  length,  for 
the  sake  of  the  town  and  the  health  of  the  people,  I  car- 
ried the  tail  to  the  forest  and  left  it  where  the  leopard 
would  find  it. 

"  And  that's  the  end  of  the  story." 


IX 

FUNERAL  CUSTOMS 

AKEU  workman  died  at  an  English  trading- 
house,  it  is  said — or  was  supposed  to  have  died 
— and  his  uucoffined  form  was  being  borne  to 
the  grave  upon  an  open  bier  by  his  fellow  workmen, 
when  he  suddenly  embarrassed  the  funeral  cortege  by  ad- 
dressing the  bearers  and  demanding  that  he  be  instantly 
informed  of  what  they  were  intending  to  do — and  why. 

The  affrighted  bearers  hastily  dropped  their  load  and 
set  out  for  the  interior  of  Africa.  Encountering  a  body 
of  water  on  the  way  they  plunged  into  it  and  submerged 
themselves  as  long  as  nature  would  allow,  in  order  to  ef- 
fect a  disconnection  with  talking  spirits — which  are  sup- 
posed to  have  an  aversion  to  water — and  their  fear  being 
thus  quenched,  they  returned.  The  corpse  meanwhile  got 
off  the  bier  and  went  home. 

Premature  burials  are  common  enough  in  Africa,  for 
reasons  which  I  shall  mention  later.  But  the  African 
might  offer  an  easier  explanation  and  say  that  the 
Kruman  was  really  dead  and  came  to  life  again.  For  the 
African  lives  in  a  world  of  confusion  and  disorder,  where 
there  is  scarcely  any  such  thing  as  a  "course  of  nature  "  ; 
but,  rather,  a  succession  of  unrelated  wonders.  Else- 
where every  effect  has  a  cause ;  but  Africa  is  run  by 
magic,  and  things  happen  without  a  cause.  Elsewhere, 
as  some  sage  has  remarked,  every  beginning  has  an  end 
— implying  that  the  end  bears  a  logical  relation  to  the  be- 
ginning and  may  even  be  foreseen  ;  but  in  Africa  a  begin- 
ning is  just  a  beginning,  and  affords  no  clue  to  the  end — 

145 


146     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFKICA 

if  there  should,  be  any  end.  One  goes  to  a  wedding,  and 
it"  turns  out  that  the  groom  is  a  leopard  in  the  form  of  a 
man,  who  in  the  midst  of  the  ceremony  carries  off  the 
bride.  One  goes  to  a  funeral  and  the  corpse  sits  up  and 
talks  or  breaks  loose  and  runs  away.  This  is  the  atmos- 
phere in  which  the  African  lives. 

Among  the  semi-civilized  Mpongwe  of  Gaboon,  when 
sickness  seems  likely  to  prove  fatal,  the  friends  and  rela- 
tions from  far  and  near  gather  into  the  house  of  the  sick, 
as  many  as  can  crowd  inside,  and  sit  about  on  the  floor, 
quietly  expectorating,  or  smoking  and  expectorating,  but 
always  expectorating.  The  effect  of  sympathy  upon  the 
salivary  glands  has  not  been  duly  considered  by  physiolo- 
gists. There  is  more  than  one  reason  for  their  hastening 
to  the  bedside  of  the  sick.  It  is,  of  course,  expected  as 
an  expression  of  sympathy  ;  and  if  the  sick  one  should  re- 
cover he  will  resent  the  omission  of  this  customary  cour- 
tesy. But  if  he  should  die  there  are  sure  to  be  charges  of 
witchcraft,  and  suspicion  is  likely  to  fall  first  on  any  who 
did  not  come  to  sympathize,  the  supposition  being  that 
they  were  kept  away  by  a  sense  of  guilt. 

The  low  wail  of  mourning  starts  as  soon  as  it  appears 
that  the  sick  one  is  dying,  although  he  may  still  be  con- 
scious. Then  when  the  death  is  announced  there  is  a 
great  outburst  of  cries  and  shrieks,  accompanied  by 
frantic  actions  of  grief  and  protest.  But  this  wild  out- 
burst soon  subsides  into  the  regular  wail  of  the  mourning 
dirge. 

The  mother  is  always  the  chief  mourner.  However 
formal  the  mourning  of  others,  hers  is  a  poignant  anguish 
that  rends  the  hearer's  heart.  As  she  chants  she  breaks 
forth  into  a  rhapsody  in  which  she  recites  the  story  of  her 
loved  one?s  life,  dwelling  upon  those  incidents  the  memory 
of  which  only  a  mother  cherishes.  She  sings  because  she 
most.  No  other  expression  would  be  adequate  ;  and  cer- 


FUNERAL  CUSTOMS  HY 

tainly  no  other  would  be  so  affecting  to  the  hearer.  One 
reflects  that  the  strongest  emotions  naturally  resort  to 
music  for  their  expression,  and  that  singing  is  as  natural 
as  laughter  or  tears ;  and  one  understands  how  that 
ancient  orators — accounted  the  world's  greatest — chanted, 
or  intoned  their  orations  without  lessening,  but  rather 
deepening  the  impression  of  sincerity  and  passionate  con- 
viction. 

The  mourning  continues  without  interruption  until  the 
burial,  except  while  the  coffin  is  being  made — for  the 
Mpongwe  use  coffins.  The  coffin  is  made  in  the  street,  in 
front  of  the  house.  If  there  should  be  any  wailing  at 
that  time  the  departed  spirit  will  not  like  his  new  house, 
and  some  of  those  who  helped  to  make  it  will  surely  die 
before  the  year  is  over.  I  have  seen  a  man,  who  heard  the 
least  sound  of  a  wail  while  he  was  working  on  the  coffin, 
fling  his  hammer  on  the  ground  in  great  anger  and  refuse  to 
continue  the  work.  The  mourning  is  also  suspended  dur- 
ing the  digging  of  the  grave,  if  it  is  near  by.  The  making 
of  the  grave  must  not  be  interrupted,  but  continued  until 
it  is  finished.  Upon  its  completion  a  stick  or  other  ob- 
ject is  thrown  into  it  to  keep  other  spirits  from  taking 
possession  before  its  proper  resident  comes  to  occupy  it. 

The  corpse,  having  been  prepared  for  burial  by  being 
dressed  in  its  best  robe,  is  laid  upon  the  floor,  the  mother 
or  nearest  relation  taking  the  head  upon  her  lap  and  lead- 
ing in  the  mourning.  But,  before  this,  all  the  relations 
put  on  their  oldest  rags  and  as  few  of  them  as  decency 
will  allow.  The  most  civilized  among  them,  unwilling 
to  disrobe,  often  turn  their  dresses  inside  out.  Owing  to 
the  peculiar  climate  bodies  are  not  usually  kept  long. 
The  funeral  sometimes  takes  place  within  twelve  or  even 
eight  hours  after  death. 

From  the  stories  of  natives  one  must  conclude  that 
premature  burial  is  far  from  uncommon.  The  short  in- 


148     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

terval  which,  custom  allows  between  death  and  burial  is 
a  partial  explanation.  And  it  may  also  be  accounted  for 
among  many  tribes  by  the  frequency  of  religious  trance, 
mistaken  for  death.  The  trance  is  usually  self-induced, 
for  the  purpose  of  reading  the  future,  or  when  they  com- 
mune with  the  spirit  of  the  moon  ;  but  the  practice  would 
probably  make  them  subject  to  involuntary  trance.  They 
have  abundant  opportunity  of  proving  the  fact  of  prema- 
ture burial,  since  they  so  frequently  exhume  the  bodies 
of  the  dead ;  sometimes  they  find  the  body  in  an  altered 
position.  There  are  various  reasons  for  exhuming  the 
bodies  of  the  dead.  Sometimes  the  spirit  of  the  departed 
is  dissatisfied  with  the  grave  and  becomes  troublesome  to 
the  living,  subjecting  them  to  annoyance  and  injury  until 
the  body  is  placed  in  another  grave.  If  the  departed  was 
a  person  of  small  importance  the  people  may  resent  these 
posthumous  activities  and  seek  to  disable  the  spirit  by 
exhuming  the  body  and  throwing  it  into  the  sea,  after 
cutting  off  the  head.  Among  the  interior  tribes  the  body 
is  frequently  exhumed  in  order  to  obtain  the  brains  or  the 
skull  for  fetish  purposes.  Thus  the  evidences  are  found 
of  premature  burial. 

But,  besides  the  haste  with  which  they  bury  their  dead, 
and  the  frequency  of  the  trance,  there  is  still  another  ex- 
planation of  premature  burial.  They  are  disposed  to  re- 
gard a  person  as  dead  as  soon  as  he  becomes  unconscious, 
although  the  heart  may  still  be  perceptibly  beating.  They 
cannot  dissociate  the  personal  spirit  from  seeing,  hearing 
and  feeling.  They  will  therefore  say  of  the  unconscious 
one  that  he,  the  person,  is  gone,  and  that  only  the  life  of 
the  body  is  left ;  and  they  will  lose  no  time  in  preparing 
for  the  funeral. 

The  spirit  of  the  deceased  knows  all  that  is  going  on 
and  is  supposed  to  be  very  sensitive  in  regard  to  the 
amount  of  mourning  and  the  details  of  the  funeral. 


FUNERAL  CUSTOMS  149 

Among  the  Fang,  the  wives  of  a  man  who  has  died, 
when  they  are  not  put  to  death,  are  often  beaten  severely 
to  augment  their  sorrow,  and  they  are  compelled  to  go 
entirely  naked  for  a  length  of  time — sometimes  a  whole 
year.  No  one  must  speak  to  them,  nor  give  them  food. 

It  is  especially  respectful  to  the  dead  to  manifest  re- 
luctance in  burying  the  body.  And  to  act  unreasonably 
at  such  a  time,  or  to  seem  a  little  foolish,  is  very  pleasing 
to  the  departed.  The  bearers  usually  belong  half  to  the 
father's  family  and  half  to  the  family  of  the  mother.  The 
coffin  is  of  plain  boards  covered  with  blue  cotton.  There 
are  no  handles  :  the  bearers  carry  it  on  their  heads.  The 
practice  in  former  times,  but  not  so  common  now,  was  for 
some  of  the  bearers  on  the  way  to  the  grave  to  refuse 
to  go  further,  as  if  unwilling  to  bury  the  body  of  their 
friend  and  relation.  The  others  would  insist  upon  burial, 
and  a  strange  altercation  would  take  place,  with  some 
pushing,  the  bearers  halting  and  starting,  and  halting 
again,  but  at  last  yielding  to  necessity  and  mastering 
their  feelings. 

A  short  time  before  I  left  Gaboon  there  was  a  peculiar 
revival  of  this  custom.  A  woman  had  died  who  was  a 
member  of  the  church.  According  to  our  custom,  they 
were  allowed  to  bury  her  in  the  mission  cemetery.  The 
cemetery  is  on  the  back  part  of  the  premises  and  it  is 
necessary  to  pass  through  the  front  yard  to  reach  it. 
The  family  of  this  particular  woman  were  all  heathen, 
and  I  presume  they  had  been  drinking  ;  for  rum  is  now 
regarded  as  a  necessity  at  an  Mpongwe  funeral,  except 
among  the  Christians.  During  the  procession  of  the 
funeral,  as  they  were  entering  the  cemetery,  some  of  the 
bearers  objected  to  going  further,  and  began  to  push  the 
other  bearers  back,  according  to  the  good  old  custom. 
But  in  this  instance  custom  was  outdone.  The  two  pa- 
rental families  to  whom  the  bearers  belonged  had  not 


150     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

been  friendly.  The  pushing  of  some  was  resented  by 
the  others,  and  soon  each  party,  under  the  guise  of  con- 
ventionality and  revered  custom,  delivered  real  blows 
upon  the  other  and  paid  off  some  old  scores.  In  the  en- 
suing fight  the  coffin  was  precipitated  to  the  ground. 
Leaving  it  where  it  fell,  the  whole  funeral  procession 
started  for  the  police  court.  And  experience  with 
French  justice  having  taught  them  that  much  depends 
upon  getting  there  first,  each  party  tried  to  outrun  the 
other.  Some  of  the  mourners,  however,  fearing  trouble 
with  the  officials  if  the  body  were  not  buried  immedi- 
ately, dissuaded  them  from  their  purpose  before  they 
reached  the  court,  and  they  all  came  back  together  and 
buried  the  body. 

The  coast  tribes  have  regular  burying  places.  But 
most  interior  tribes  bury  in  the  street,  or  in  the  garden, 
and  sometimes  even  beneath  the  earthen  floor  of  the 
house.  A  prominent  man  in  Batanga,  whom  I  knew, 
buried  his  favourite  wife  under  his  door-step.  In  such 
burials  probably  something  more  is  sought  than  merely 
to  honour  the  dead.  They  may  also  intend  to  procure 
health  and  protection  for  the  household.  This  idea  is 
borne  out  by  the  customs  of  certain  far-interior  tribes, 
among  whom  when  a  great  chief  would  build  a  house  he 
first  kills  a  number  of  slaves  and  buries  them  beneath  the 
foundation. 

Among  the  Fang,  back  from  the  coast,  who  have  not 
been  influenced  by  contact  with  the  white  man,  all  the 
funeral  customs  are  more  rude  and  barbarous,  and  often 
revolting.  The  dead  are  buried  without  coffins,  usually 
in  a  sitting  posture,  and  in  very  shallow  graves.  Some 
of  the  tribes  adjacent  to  the  Fang  on  the  south  do  not 
bury  at  all.  They  have  regular  cemeteries  in  which  they 
leave  the  bodies  above  the  ground  and  cover  them  with 
palm  branches  or  woven  mats.  In  most  tribes  offerings 


FUNERAL  CUSTOMS  151 

of  food  and  drink  are  placed  beside  the  grave.  As  the 
drink  evaporates  and  the  food  wastes  they  say  the  spirit 
is  consuming  it.  Fire- wood  is  left  on  the  grave  that  the 
body  may  be  kept  warm.  In  the  case  of  those  accused 
of  witchcraft  they  often  seek  to  disable  the  spirit  by 
burning  the  body.  For  the  spirits  of  the  dead  still  re- 
tain some  connection  with  the  body.  For  this  same 
reason  when  slaves  die,  or  others  whom  they  have  es- 
pecial reason  to  fear,  they  sometimes  beat  the  body  with 
heavy  clubs  until  they  break  every  bone  and  reduce  it  to 
a  shapeless  mass. 

Wives  charged  with  witchcraft  are  usually  buried  alive 
with  the  dead  body  of  the  husband.  In  one  instance,  in 
a  certain  town  that  I  knew  well,  a  very  large  grave  was  dug 
in  the  middle  of  the  street,  and  the  body  of  the  man — 
a  chief — was  placed  in  the  middle  of  it.  Then  his  seven 
wives,  charged  with  having  bewitched  him,  were  brought 
forward,  and  they  were  about  to  break  their  legs  and 
throw  them  into  the  grave,  when  the  timely  arrival  of 
the  missionary  prevented  the  deed  and  saved  the  women's 
lives.  He  interposed  no  physical  force;  but,  knowing 
his  feelings,  they  were  not  willing  to  commit  such  an 
atrocity  in  his  presence. 

The  human  shrinking  from  the  dead  with  them  takes 
the  form  of  fear  that  the  dead  will  harm  them,  even  their 
own  nearest  relations.  No  matter  how  they  may  have 
loved  one  while  he  was  alive,  yet  they  will  not  desire  that 
his  spirit  should  linger ;  but  rather  in  their  mourning 
they  often  entreat  the  dead  one  to  depart.  It  is  heart- 
rending to  hear  a  mother  in  the  midst  of  her  grief  en- 
treat her  child  to  stay  far  from  her  and  not  to  touch  her. 
They  resort  to  various  expedients  to  get  rid  of  the  spirits 
of  the  dead.  Sometimes,  upon  the  announcement  of  a 
death,  while  the  women  indulge  in  frantic  shrieks,  or  the 
mourning  wail,  the  men  beat  drums  or  fire  off  their  guns 


152    THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

to  frighten  the  spirit  away.  Nevertheless,  the  spirit  re- 
mains in  the  house  as  long  as  the  body  is  there  and  ac- 
companies it  to  the  grave.  Therefore  the  bed  that  the 
deceased  lay  upon  is  occupied  continually  between  death 
and  burial  to  the  supposed  discomfort  of  the  spirit. 
After  the  burial  they  hurry  home,  sometimes  running,  in 
order  to  escape  from  the  spirit,  which  may  not  be  able  to 
find  its  way  back  to  the  town  alone.  On  the  way  home 
it  is  advisable,  if  possible,  to  plunge  into  water.  If  one 
should  fall  while  thus  running  he  will  die  within  a  year. 
Sickness  and  other  troubles  are  often  attributed  to  the 
spirits  of  those  who  have  recently  died.  Little  children 
whose  mothers  have  died  often  die  themselves  soon  after  ; 
it  is  because  the  dead  mother  cannot  resist  the  temptation 
to  embrace  them. 

Among  the  Mpongwe  blue  is  worn  as  mourning.  The 
men  also  shave  their  heads.  The  mourning  chant  is  con- 
tinued at  night,  usually  for  a  month  after  the  funeral. 
Near  relations  remain  as  visitors  in  the  town  during  the 
period  of  mourning.  The  usual  activities  are  suspended 
and  children  are  neglected.  The  white  man's  rum  is  now 
regarded  as  a  necessary  factor  in  relieving  hearts  sur- 
charged with  sorrow.  As  time  passes  gossip  becomes  in- 
cessant and  engenders  estrangements  and  hatreds.  There 
are  also  criminal  intimacies.  Indeed,  a  period  of  mourn- 
ing is  perhaps  the  most  demoralizing  experience  through 
which  a  community  can  pass. 

With  most  of  the  mourners  the  mourning  wail  itself  is 
purely  conventional,  serving  only  for  the  assumption  of 
a  sham  grief  rather  than  the  relief  of  a  real  one.  But  no 
one  forgets  the  possible  charges  of  witchcraft ;  and  to 
avert  suspicion  it  is  wise  to  be  prompt  and  eager  in  the 
mourning,  especially  on  the  part  of  those  who  were  known 
to  be  estranged  from  the  deceased.  A  certain  Mpongwe 
woman,  entering  a  house  of  mourning  where  a  friend  had 


FUNERAL  CUSTOMS  153 

just  died,  asked  the  husband  of  the  deceased  to  excuse 
her  from  mourning  because  she  had  a  sore  ear  and  it 
hurt  her  to  mourn. 

Grief,  however,  is  often  very  deep  and  real  among  the 
Africans  ;  and  it  can  never  in  any  land  be  measured  by 
conventionalities.  The  grief  of  parents  for  the  loss  of 
children  is,  as  I  have  said,  the  most  poignant  grief  of  the 
African  heart.  Again  and  again,  when  I  have  asked  a 
father  or  mother  to  explain  to  the  session  of  the  church 
their  long  absence  from  its  services,  they  have  confessed 
in  tears  that  they  had  been  unable  to  believe  in  the  Chris- 
tian's God  since  He  had  taken  away  their  little  child— 
sometimes  an  only  child — and  had  left  the  parent  heart 
cold  and  joyless. 

One  day,  walking  across  the  lonely  grass-field  of 
Gaboon,  the  stillness  broken  only  by  the  rustle  of  the 
long  grass  around  me  and  the  distant  boom  of  the  sea 
beyond  the  horizon,  I  met  a  man  of  Gaboon  who  was 
returning  home  after  a  trading  expedition  into  the  forest. 
He  was  a  shrewd  man  who  had  traded  successfully  both 
with  white  and  black  and  who  seemed  to  care  for  nothing 
else  but  trade,  a  man  of  materialistic  mind  and  peculiarly 
inaccessible  to  any  spiritual  message.  We  sat  down  and 
talked  for  some  time,  first  of  course  about  trade ;  but 
gradually  the  conversation  became  more  intimate  and  he 
talked  about  himself,  at  length  revealing  a  great  sorrow 
that  years  ago  had  darkened  his  life  and  left  it  dark,  like 
the  setting  of  the  sun.  He  had  lost  in  succession  three 
little  children — all  he  had.  He  tried  to  tell  me  about  it, 
but  he  had  not  accustomed  himself  to  speaking  of  it,  and 
the  story  ended  half-way  in  a  flood  of  tears.  I  told  him 
that  little  story  that  every  minister  tells  more  than  once 
in  the  course  of  his  ministry — the  story  of  the  kind  shep- 
herd, and  the  willful  mother  sheep  that  would  not  cross 
the  stream  to  the  good  pasture  and  the  safe  fold  on  the 


154     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

other  side  j  and  how  the  shepherd  took  the  lamb  in  his 
arms  and  carried  it  across,  and  how  the  mother  sheep 
stood  a  while  and  looked  after  it  with  longing  and  then 
followed  her  lamb  to  the  other  side.  It  was  a  familiar 
incident  to  him — some  such  thing  he  had  done  himself — 
and  ^the  simple  story  moved  him  deeply.  I  never  saw 
him  again  ;  for  I  left  Africa  shortly  afterwards.  But  I 
have  not  forgotten  the  human  tenderness  that  was  re- 
vealed beneath  the  surface  hardness  of  the  man's  heathen 
heart ;  and  I  hope  that  if  he  be  still  alive  he  may  not 
have  forgotten  the  vision  of  the  "  sweet  fields  beyond  the 
swelling  floods,"  and  the  message  of  God's  love  and  kind- 
ness which  he  heard  that  day,  like  a  still,  small  voice 
sounding  across  the  storms  that  had  wrecked  his  life. 

The  tribes  north  of  the  Calabar  Eiver — the  real  Negro 
tribes — are  more  cruel  in  all  their  customs  than  the  tribes 
further  south.  Even  apart  from  any  accusation  of  witch- 
craft, when  a  man  dies  a  number  of  persons  are  frequently 
put  to  death  to  accompany  his  spirit  to  the  other  world. 
When  a  great  chief  dies  wives  and  slaves  are  killed  that 
the  chief  may  enter  the  spirit  world  as  a  person  of  con- 
sequence. For  it  is  supposed  that  slaves  sent  with  him 
will  still  be  his  slaves  and  wives  will  still  be  wives.  I  have 
known  an  instance  of  a  native  dying  on  shipboard,  and 
when  the  body  was  cast  into  the  sea,  the  female  relations 
actually  tried  to  leap  after  it  in  order  to  accompany  the 
spirit  of  the  deceased  to  the  other  world. 

Among  some  of  the  tribes  of  the  Niger  it  was  the 
custom  (until  the  English  government  suppressed  it)  that 
when  a  chief  died  a  number  of  persons,  perhaps  twelve 
or  more,  usually  women  and  slaves,  were  buried  alive 
with  him,  and  without  any  accusation  against  them.  An 
enormous  grave  was  dug ;  and  all  these  persons  were 
lowered  into  it  together  with  the  dead  body  of  the  chief. 
Then  the  grave  was  covered  over  with  a  roof,  a  small  open- 


FUNERAL  CUSTOMS  155 

ing  being  left,  upon  which  a  stone  was  placed.  Each  day 
the  stone  was  removed  and  the  question  was  asked  of 
those  below  whether  they  had  yet  followed  the  chief — 
each  day  until  at  last  no  voice  replied.  Among  the  Fang  I 
have  not  known  of  any  such  practice.  The  only  persons 
put  to  death  on  such  occasions  are  those  who  have  been 
charged  with  witchcraft.  But  multitudes  die  daily  on 
this  charge. 

My  first  contact  with  death  in  Africa  was  among  the 
Bulu,  at  a  little  town  called  Mon  Mam  (if  I  remember 
correctly)  close  to  Efulen.  One  afternoon  when  I  was 
alone  at  Efuleu  I  was  startled  by  the  firing  of  guns  in  the 
little  village  at  the  foot  of  our  hill.  There  were  cries 
also  and  shrieks  such  as  I  had  never  before  heard. 
Several  of  the  many  natives  around  me  belonged  to  Mon 
Nlam  ;  and  these  started  for  home  as  fast  as  they  could 
run.  I  caught  something  of  their  alarm  and  ran  after 
them  to  the  town.  Following  the  lead  of  the  natives  I 
ran  through  the  town  into  the  banana  garden  immediately 
beyond,  where  all  the  people  were  gathered.  There  in 
the  midst  were  a  number  of  women  (I  forget  how  many) 
shrieking  frantically  and  throwing  themselves  madly 
upon  the  ground.  They  were  entirely  naked  and  their 
bodies  were  smeared  with  white  clay,  even  their  faces 
and  their  hair.  Other  women  were  vainly  trying  to  re- 
strain them,  while  the  crowd  looked  on. 

Such  a  scene  was  quite  new  to  me  in  those  days,  and 
the  horror  of  it  I  have  never  forgotten.  I  had  only  the 
slightest  knowledge  of  the  language  and  it  took  me  some 
time  to  find  out  what  had  happened.  Several  men,  the 
husbands  of  these  women,  had  gone  hunting  in  the 
forest.  Two  other  towns  near  by  were  at  war  with  each 
other ;  but  this  town  had  nothing  whatever  to  do  with 
the  war.  A  number  of  men  from  one  of  the  two  towns 
were  hiding  in  the  forest,  lying  in  wait  for  the  enemy, 


156     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

when  they  espied  these  men  who  were  hunting.  In  the 
dim  light  of  the  forest  they  mistook  their  friends  for  their 
enemies  and  fired  upon  them.  An  African  would  rather 
kill  ten  friends  then  let  one  enemy  escape.  They  killed 
all  the  men  of  the  hunting-party.  This  was  the  news 
that  had  just  reached  the  town.  It  was  the  more  pitiable 
because  the  town  was  small,  and  the  loss  of  several  of  its 
strongest  men  seriously  weakened  its  defense. 

There  were  the  usual  charges  of  witchcraft  against  the 
women ;  and  when  I  in  amazement  pointed  out  to  them 
that  in  this  instance  there  was  no  mystery  whatever  ; 
that  those  men,  as  they  knew,  had  been  killed  by  the 
bullets  of  those  who  had  fired  upon  them,  they  replied 
that  while  this  was  doubtless  true  it  was  only  half  the 
truth  ;  for  those  men  wore  protecting  charms  that  would 
have  made  it  impossible  for  bullets  to  injure  them,  and 
that  the  spell  of  witchcraft  must  have  destroyed  the 
power  of  the  charms.  I  only  convinced  them  that  while 
I  knew  considerable  about  bullets  I  knew  nothing  about 
witchcraft  and  nothing  about  wives.  The  doubt,  how- 
ever, which  had  been  thus  suggested,  was  sufficient  to 
enable  us  to  protect  the  women  from  any  fatal  violence ; 
although  the  restraints  and  sufferings  imposed  upon 
widows  during  their  period  of  mourning  is  almost  in- 
tolerable. 

In  contrast  with  that  scene,  where  the  elemental  pas- 
sions of  fear,  grief  and  rage  fairly  made  demons  of  men 
and  women,  I  think  of  another  death  that  was  not  in  any 
way  horrible  or  revolting  ;  it  was  the  death  of  a  Fang 
chief  named  Ndong,  one  of  the  first  of  the  Fang  Christians. 
Ndong  and  his  people  had  come  recently  from  the  far  in- 
terior and  had  settled  on  one  of  the  branches  of  the 
Gaboon.  He  had  lived  all  his  life  among  such  death 
scenes  as  I  have  just  described,  and  himself  had  taken  a 
leading  part  in  punishing  witchcraft.  When  I  first  knew 


FUNERAL  CUSTOMS  157 

him  he  had  more  fetishes  than  any  man  in  his  town  ;  for 
he  was  in  ill  health  and  of  .course  supposed  that  somebody 
was  bewitching  him.  The  fetishes  were  an  attempt  to 
protect  himself;  but  they  were  a  failure,  and  he  was 
in  terror  of  everybody  around  him.  After  several  con- 
versations with  him  he  boldly  renounced  fetishism  and 
threw  away  all  his  fetishes.  He  told  the  people  that  if 
God  desired  that  he  should  live  He  would  defend  and 
protect  him  ;  and  that  if  God  was  calling  him  he  was 
ready  to  go.  He  lived  six  months  to  proclaim  this  new 
faith,  and  then  died,  haviug  been  sorely  tried  by  constant 
suffering.  I  reached  the  town  just  as  he  died.  There 
was  not  a  fetish  in  his  house.  But  it  was  more  surpris- 
ing that  there  was  no  heathen  mourning.  The  town  was 
strangely  quiet  when  I  arrived.  An  elderly  woman  said 
tome : 

"  Ndong  has  died.  He  died  as  one  goes  to  sleep,  with- 
out fear,  and  without  blaming  anybody.  We  never  saw 
a  death  like  this  before.  A  new  day  is  dawning." 


THE  DOROTHT 

IN  response  to  my  urgent  appeal,  a  gasoline  launch, 
the  Dorothy,  was  given  for  the  work  on  the  Gaboon 
Eiver,  by  a  friend  of  missions  living  in  Orange,  New 
Jersey.  The  gift  was  a  memorial  to  a  little  daughter, 
Dorothy,  who  had  died. 

The  arrival  of  the  Dorothy  was  the  most  joyful  event  of 
all  my  years  in  Africa.  Hitherto  I  had  reached  the 
Fang  only  by  canoe  or  small  sailboat,  the  latter  depend- 
ing upon  oars  more  than  sails.  The  area  of  the  work 
was  therefore  circumscribed  and  the  incidental  exposure 
dreadful.  But  now  we  no  longer  regarded  the  heat  by 
day  nor  the  rains  by  night;  for  there  was  a  large 
cabin  provided  with  every  comfort,  including  good  beds. 
And  this  latter  was  a  main  consideration.  After  the  ar- 
rival of  the  Dorothy  I  seldom  stayed  in  a  town  over  night 
nor  slept  in  a  native  bed — a  few  straight  poles  laid  side 
by  side,  sometimes  with  the  additional  luxury  of  a  grass 
mat.  Besides  a  bed  of  poles,  I  escaped  stifling  heat,  in- 
finite noise,  rats,  roaches,  lizards,  scorpions,  centipedes, 
ants,  fleas,  lice  and  a  staggering  combination  of  odours. 
In  the  lower  rivers  that  flow  through  the  mangrove 
swamps  I  also  escaped  the  vile  atmosphere  and  the 
mosquitoes  by  running  out  to  the  bay  at  night.  Added 
to  these  considerations,  its  speed  was  such  that  I  could 
travel  against  wind  and  tide  ;  and  by  means  of  it  the 
former  work  was  multiplied  many  times,  and  spread  over 
the  whole  area  of  the  Gaboon  basin. 

The  Dorothy  was  a  house-launch,  and  was  intended  only 

158 


THE  «  DOROTHY '  159 

for  the  rivers.  The  walls  of  the  cabiii  presented  such  an 
area  to  the  wind  that  on  the  bay  or  at  sea,  unless  in  the 
calmest  weather,  it  rolled  as  nothing  else  ever  rolled  ;  and 
in  a  storm  it  was  dangerous. 

Ndong  Koui,  who  had  been  long  in  my  service,  was 
captain  of  the  Dorothy  ;  the  rest  of  the  crew  I  had  to  choose 
with  greater  care  than  in  former  days,  and  it  was  difficult 
to  find  men  who  were  qualified  both  by  intelligence  and 
trustworthiness.  I  discharged  one  man  for  disobedience 
in  smoking  a  pipe  over  an  open  tank  from  which  they 
were  drawing  gasoline. 

On  one  occasion  when  I  was  preparing  for  a  long  trip  up 
the  river,  Ndoug  Koni  was  absent ;  and  not  having  time 
myself  to  look  after  every  detail  of  the  preparation,  I  en- 
trusted to  one  of  the  crew,  a  boy  named  Toko,  the  work 
of  filling  the  tank  with  gasoline.  Toko  was  not  a  Fang, 
but  a  coastman.  He  was  so  black  that  he  seemed  to 
radiate  darkness  and  create  a  kind  of  twilight  in  his 
neighbourhood.  The  Fang  were  like  mulattoes  beside 
him.  He  had  worked  some  time  for  an  English  trader 
and  had  picked  up  a  smattering  of  very  original  English. 
On  this  occasion  Toko  assured  me  that  he  "  done  fill  the 
tank  proper  full."  But  on  the  return  trip  the  engine 
suddenly  stopped  one  morning  at  daylight :  the  gasoline 
was  exhausted.  We  were  thirty  miles  from  home  :  and  it 
was  the  rough  bay,  not  the  river,  that  stretched  between. 
There  was  only  one  thing  to  do  ;  and  in  a  few  minutes  we 
had  anchored  the  Dorothy,  and  had  started  for  Gaboon  in 
a  canoe,  our  purpose  being  to  get  the  gasoline  we  re- 
quired and  return  immediately. 

The  canoe  was  large  and  there  were  plenty  of  paddles, 
so  I  took  with  me  every  man  on  board  except  Toko, 
whom  I  left  in  charge  of  the  Dorothy,  to  spend  what  I 
supposed  would  be  the  longest  and  most  miserable  day  of 
his  life.  For  I  knew  that  we  would  not  be  back  before 


160     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

midnight ;  and  although  the  bay  was  now  like  glass  the 
sea-breeze  would  rise  about  ten  o'clock  and  increase  all 
day  long.  The  Dorothy  was  anchored  in  a  very  bad  place 
and  it  was  enough  to  make  one  sick  in  anticipation. 
But  it  was  necessary  that  some  one  should  remain  in 
charge,  and  I  was  so  indignant  at  Toko  for  his  neglect 
that  I  had  no  compunction  of  conscience,  but  inwardly 
gloated  like  a  cannibal  over  a  feast.  We  are  all  can- 
nibals by  instinct  when  it  comes  to  eating  our  enemies. 

The  sea-breeze  later  in  the  day  became  almost  a  gale, 
and  was  directly  against  us  ;  the  waves  were  soon  crested 
with  whitecaps  and  grew  bigger  and  bigger.  It  took  the 
combined  strength  of  six  men  with  paddles  to  make  any 
headway  in  the  last  several  hours.  I  felt  quite  safe,  for 
Ndong  Koni  whom  we  had  picked  up  along  the  way  was 
steersman.  The  skill  of  the  natives  in  canoeing — their 
instinctive  balancing,  their  knowledge  of  the  waves,  and 
the  proper  way  to  receive  each  wave  is  marvellous  ;  for 
of  a  hundred  waves  no  two  may  be  alike.  The  degree  of 
tendency  to  careen  at  the  stroke  of  each  wave,  or  (if  the 
sea  is  abeam)  as  the  peak  of  the  wave  passes  under  the 
canoe,  must  be  met  by  a  dexterous  stroke  of  the  paddle 
of  the  steersman,  or  the  counterpoise  of  the  body.  It  is 
very  exhilarating.  Mind  and  muscle  must  act  instantly. 
No  sooner  is  one  wave  passed  than  the  mind,  dismissing 
it,  leaps  to  the  next  encounter.  One  finds  himself  per- 
sonifying the  waves  and  regarding  them  as  personal 
enemies  whom  he  must  fight  or  die.  But  our  canoe  was 
l^rge,  and  strength  as  much  as  skill  kept  us  from  being 
swamped. 

We  reached  Gaboon  late  in  the  afternoon  and  having 
procured  gasoline  and  rigged  our  largest  sailboat,  the 
Lafayette,  we  immediately  started  back  to  the  Dorothy. 
It  was  a  wild  night  and  very  dark ;  but  the  wind  was 
favourable,  and  there  was  not  on  all  the  coast  of  West 


THE  «  DOROTHY "  161 

Africa  a  better  sailing  boat  of  its  size  than  the  Lafayette. 
Many  a  night  I  have  sailed  in  her  on  the  open  sea,  to 
Corisco  and  Benito,  sometimes  when  the  night  was  pitch 
dark  and  the  wind  howling.  Such  a  situation  is  far  from 
conducive  to  sleep.  But  I  had  great  confidence  in  the 
Lafayette.  She  combined  speed  and  daring  with  amia- 
bility and  was  a  boat  to  admire  and  love. 

But  we  are  now  on  our  way  back  to  the  Dorothy  and  to 
the  rescue  of  poor  Toko.  We  reached  the  Dorothy  at 
midnight.  Long  before  this  I  had  relented  towards  Toko. 
Indeed,  soon  after  the  sea- breeze  arose  in  the  morning,  and 
I  knew  the  Dorothy  was  rolling  in  the  trough  of  the  sea,  I 
was  disappointed  to  find  that  I  was  not  really  enjoying 
his  discomfiture  as  much  as  I  had  anticipated.  As  the 
wind  blew  harder  I  experienced  an  emotional  reaction, 
and  I  felt  more  and  more  sorry  for  him.  When  night 
came  on  the  loneliness  of  his  situation,  far  from  land,  on 
a  rough  sea,  added  another  appealing  element,  and  it 
would  have  been  the  easiest  thing  in  the  world  to  have 
obtained  a  promise  from  me  to  raise  his  wages  if  we 
should  succeed  in  rescuing  him  from  his  miserable  plight. 
Many  hours  before  we  reached  him  we  saw  the  dim 
solitary  light,  indicating  that  the  Dorothy  was  at  least 
afloat.  Then  we  could  see  the  light  swaying  from  side 
to  side  with  the  rolling  and  plunging  of  the  vessel.  On 
we  sped,  while  the  light  seemed  far  away  as  ever  ;  then, 
all  at  once,  it  flashed  with  sudden  nearness,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  we  were  at  the  gangway. 

I  called  to  Toko  as  we  approached,  but  received  no 
answer.  Even  as  we  came  alongside  there  was  no  response 
to  our  united  call.  I  sprang  on  board  and  rushed  into 
the  cabin  only  to  stumble  over  some  unwonted  obstacle 
that  nearly  pitched  me  on  my  head.  The  obstacle  was 
the  living  body  of  Toko,  who  to  my  question  replied : 
"Mastah,  I  done  pass  fine  day.  I  been  sleep  all  time. 


162     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

All  this  day  and  all  this  night  I  no  wake,  only  for  eat 
and  for  make  them  head-light." 

I  muttered  in  reply :  "  You  incorrigible  rascal !  You 
ought  to  have  been  sick.  You  know  you  ought." 

Several  times  I  ascended  the  upper  Gaboon,  called  the 
Como,  further  than  any  launch  had  ever  gone,  to  a  town 
thirty  miles  above  Angom,  and  one  hundred  miles  from 
the  sea.  The  Conio  on  its  way  to  the  sea  cuts  through 
the  Sierra  del  Crystal  Mountains.  The  course  of  the 
river  through  the  mountains  is  tortuous  and  through 
deep  gorges.  The  current  is  exceedingly  swift ;  and  the 
channel,  which  is  deep  but  narrow,  is  filled  with  project- 
ing  rocks  and  hidden  snags.  The  water  pours  through 
these  gorges  in  a  succession  of  rapids,  or  waltzes  down  in 
whirling  eddies,  or,  again,  coils  and  twists  like  an  angry 
serpent.  In  contrast  to  the  repulsive  and  evil-smelling 
mangrove  swamps  of  the  lower  river,  the  scenery  of  the 
upper  river  is  magnificent  and  exquisitely  beautiful. 
The  hills  part  before  us  as  if  by  magic ;  while  with  each 
short  curve  the  scene  is  changed.  The  high  banks,  from 
the  tops  of  the  trees  even  to  the  water,  are  draped  with  a 
veil  of  delicate  vines,  covered  with  flowers  of  white  and 
lavender,  and  festooned  upon  the  banks  with  long,  droop- 
ing ferns,  all  swinging  in  the  wind.  A  picturesque 
native  town,  perched  upon  a  high  summit,  is  named 
Home  of  the  Moon. 

Navigation  through  this  channel  is  difficult  and  danger- 
ous. Ndong  Koni  had  charge  of  the  wheel,  and  no  white 
man  could  have  surpassed  him.  A  momentary  glance  at 
the  surface  of  the  water  was  sufficient  to  tell  him  what 
was  beneath.  He  knew  exactly  the  allowance  to  make 
for  the  strength  of  a  whirlpool,  or  the  force  of  the  current 
in  a  short  curve.  An  error  of  judgment,  or  a  moment's 
hesitation,  in  some  places  might  have  been  our  destruc- 
tion. 


,THE  «  DOROTHY "  163 

The  first  time  I  ascended  this  dangerous  part  of  the 
river  I  engaged  a  pilot  from  one  of  the  oldest  towns  ;  a 
man  who  had  known  the  river  all  his  life,  who  had  seen 
it  frequently  at  the  lowest,  and  was  therefore  familiar 
with  the  channel ;  for  the  native  does  not  forget  a 
channel,  but  has  a  peculiarly  tenacious  memory  for  each 
snag  and  boulder  that  has  occasionally  been  exposed  to 
view.  This  pilot  was  picturesque,  being  dressed  in  a 
nondescript  felt  hat  and  scarcely  anything  else.  "We 
haggled  for  some  time  over  the  price  of  his  services,  but  at 
last  he  agreed  to  come  for  a  bar  of  soap  and  a  dose  of  salts. 

As  we  ascended  the  river  Ndong  Koiii  stood  at  the 
wheel,  in  the  bow,  while  the  pilot  stood  immediately  be- 
hind him,  indicating  with  outstretched  arms  the  channel 
and  the  dangers  on  either  side.  I  stood  bending  over  the 
engine,  with  one  hand  on  the  lever  and  the  other  on  the 
throttle,  in  an  attitude  of  strained  attention.  Several 
times  we  touched  hidden  snags  that  sent  a  shiver  through 
the  launch  and  strangely  affected  my  own  vertebrae ;  and 
once  or  twice  we  struck  with  such  force  as  to  disconnect 
the  propeller.  Suddenly  the  pilot  began  to  "take  on" 
like  a  maniac,  yelling  and  calling  to  his  ancestors,  throw- 
ing his  precious  hat  and  pursuing  it  from  one  end  of  the 
cabin  to  the  other,  as  if  his  mind  had  given  way  under 
the  weight  of  responsibility.  I  left  the  engine  long 
enough  to  rush  forward,  seize  him  by  the  neck  and  throw 
him  into  a  corner.  Then  the  truth  dawned  upon  me : 
he  had  seen  a  fly  and  was  trying  to  kill  it.  I  have 
already  said  that  this  disposition  towards  the  fly  is  an 
obsession  with  the  native.  In  no  other  matter  is  he  such 
a  fool.  But  if  he  were  engaged  in  a  life-and-death  com- 
bat with  an  enemy  a  sudden  opportunity  to  kill  a  fly 
might  prove  his  undoing. 

Upon  our  return  we  were  sweeping  down  the  river 
with  the  speed  of  a  locomotive  when  I  chanced  to  look  out 


164:     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

and  found  that  we  were  passing  Atakama,  where  we  were 
intending  to  call.  I  shouted  to  the  mate  to  stand  by,  and 
added  some  ungentle  words  of  remonstrance  at  his  stupid- 
ity in  not  observing  that  we  had  reached  Atakama,  where 
I  had  told  him  we  were  going  to  stop.  I  probably  over- 
did the  matter  of  remonstrance,  for  the  mate  got  excited. 
He  sprang  to  the  anchor,  and  without  a  moment's  hesita- 
tion threw  it  overboard,  while  we  were  still  going  at 
nearly  full  speed  with  the  swift  current.  The  ensuing 
jar  was  such  that  it  took  me  some  time  to  realize  that 
we  were  still  afloat,  and  I  could  never  afterwards  pass 
the  place  without  emotion. 

Further  down  the  river  we  were  enlivened  by  the  pres- 
ence of  several  passengers  going  to  the  coast  to  work,  or 
perhaps  to  visit.  Visiting  is  a  passion  with  the  African. 
It  is  regulated  by  custom,  which  prescribes  a  limit 
(though  a  very  generous  one)  beyond  which  it  is  not  law- 
ful to  extend  a  visit.  More  than  once  I  have  known  of  a 
long-suffering  host  speeding  the  departing  guest  by  an 
appeal  to  this  law.  Upon  every  journey  with  the  Dorothy 
we  were  besieged  with  applications  for  a  passage.  No 
tickets  were  issued,  but  the  fare  was  always  a  chicken, 
regardless  of  distance  or  destination.  Ndong  Koni  was 
purser  and  looked  after  the  chickens,  collecting  them  be- 
fore we  started  and  feeding  them  on  the  journey.  The 
people  would  not  sell  chickens  to  me,  but  would  give 
them  in  pay  for  passage,  since  I  would  not  accept  any- 
thing else.  I  was  therefore  glad  enough  to  have  a  few 
passengers,  as  it  meant  that  I  ate  chicken  instead  of 
sardines  or  Armour's  sausage.  Toko,  who  often  officiated 
as  cook,  was  always  glad  when  he  could  make  the  an- 
nouncement:  "  Mr.  Milligan,  I  go  burn  a  chicken  for 
your  chop."  "When  there  were  no  chickens  he  had  to 
"kill  a  tin." 

The  basin  of  the  Gaboon  with  its  network  of  small 


THE  "DOROTHY"  165 

rivers  filled  by  the  tide,  as  I  have  said,  is  a  contrast  to 
the  scenery  of  the  upper  river.  When  the  tide  is  high 
the  foliage  of  the  mangrove  lies  upon  the  water  and  the 
appearance  is  not  displeasing  except  for  its  unapproach- 
able monotony.  But  when  the  tide  is  out  these  streams 
are  empty  or  nearly  so  and  the  receding  water  leaves  the 
mangroves  standing  up  six  or  eight  feet  out  of  the  water 
on  their  mass  of  vertical  roots  as  if  on  tiptoe.  The  drip- 
ping roots  are  usually  covered  with  small  oysters.  Below 
this  lies  the  deep,  black,  slimy  mud,  sometimes  only  half 
seen  through  the  brooding  vapour  and  stretches  forth  un- 
canny fingers  and  creeps  from  root  to  root.  The  ugliness 
of  it  is  only  equalled  by  the  smell.  There  is  nothing  more 
hideous  in  the  world,  and  I  am  sure  that  the  Styx  itself 
flows  through  a  mangrove  swamp.  Sometimes  the  reced- 
ing tide  left  us  stranded  in  this  black  batter  for  several 
hours,  and  the  night  consigned  us  to  mosquitoes.  But  as 
soon  as  the  rising  tide  floated  us  we  sped  to  the  bay,  leav- 
ing mosquitoes  and  heat  and  foetid  banks  behind  us,  and 
blessing  the  Dorothy. 

On  several  occasions  I  ventured  out  upon  the  open  sea 
with  the  Dorothy.  Twice  I  went  to  Benito,  one  hundred 
miles  north  of  Gaboon.  On  the  first  of  these  journeys  my 
old  captain,  Makuba,  was  with  me  instead  of  Kdong  Koni. 
But  Makuba' s  home  was  at  Benito,  and  he  decided  to  re- 
main there.  I  hired  an  intelligent  coast  man  in  his  place, 
one  who  had  had  years  of  experience  in  sailing-craft  and 
knew  the  intervening  coast  perfectly.  The  sea  was  so 
heavy  that  we  kept  as  close  to  the  shore  as  we  dared, 
although  it  was  fringed  with  rocks  and  reefs.  The  night 
we  chose  for  our  return  was  exceedingly  dark  and  the  sea 
rough.  The  engine  was  in  an  obstinate  mood  and  my 
entire  attention  was  occupied  with  it. 

Suddenly  I  became  conscious  that  the  sea  was  abeam, 
instead  of  on  our  starboard  bow.  Leaving  the  engine,  I 


166     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

ran  forward,  and  looked  at  the  compass.  We  were  going 
directly  towards  the  shore.  I  actually  heard  the  sound 
of  the  breakers  on  the  reef.  My  intelligent  wheelman, 
in  order  to  render  me  the  best  possible  service,  had 
thought  to  stimulate  his  mind  and  muscle  with  a  few 
swags  from  a  bottle  of  rum,  which  he  had  thoughtfully 
brought  with  him.  But,  owing  perhaps  to  the  lurching 
of  the  vessel,  he  swallowed  more  than  he  intended,  with 
the  result  that  he  was  soon  comfortably  sleeping  while 
the  Dorothy  sped  towards  destruction.  "Be  ye  angry, 
and  sin  not,"  is  the  twofold  injunction  of  Scripture.  I 
may  as  well  confess  that  I  concentrated  upon  the  first 
part  of  the  injunction  and  clean  forgot  the  second  part. 

The  wind  blew  harder,  and  we  realized  that  we  were 
out  on  a  stormy  sea  with  a  house-launch.  On  this  occa- 
sion a  friend,  Mr.  Northam,  was  with  me.  The  rough 
sea  made  very  hard  work  at  the  wheel,  but  the  erstwhile 
pilot  lay  on  the  floor  in  a  somnolent  drunk.  Mr.  Nbrtham 
and  I  took  the  wheel  alternately  an  hour  at  a  time,  all 
that  night.  For  a  while  it  was  not  a  matter  of  making 
progress  but  of  weathering  the  gale.  We  were  seventeen 
hours  running  fifty  miles,  from  Hanje  to  Corisco,  and 
when  at  last,  next  morning,  we  reached  shelter  and 
dropped  anchor,  we  all  three,  Mr.  Northam,  myself  and 
the  Dorothy  were  about  done  out. 

On  one  occasion  the  Dorothy,  in  the  interest  of  hu- 
manity, played  the  part  of  a  man-of-war.  We  were  out 
on  the  bay,  at  least  a  mile  from  the  shore,  when  our 
attention  was  attracted  by  the  strange  manoeuvres  of 
a  large  number  of  canoes  all  equipped  with  sails.  They 
were  far  from  us,  and  were  between  us  and  the  shore. 
We  soon  saw  that  it  was  a  case  of  piracy.  In  all, 
there  were  six  canoes.  Five  of  them  were  sailing  in 
a  wide  circle  around  the  other ;  but  the  circle  became 
narrower,  ;and  still  narrower,  as  they  closed  in  upon  their 


THE  "  DOROTHY >!  167 

victim  like  white- winged  birds  of  prey.  The  poor  canoe 
in  the  centre  turned  first  one  way,  then  another,  only 
each  time  to  find  its  escape  cut  off  by  the  revolving  circle 
of  canoes.  Ndong  Koni  understood  every  move  they 
made  and  explained  it  to  me.  He  begged  me  to  inter- 
fere. I  consented,  and  he  sprang  to  the  wheel  with  a 
shout.  It  was  necessary  at  first  to  conceal  our  intention 
lest  the  canoes  should  escape  to  the  shore.  So  he  took  a 
course  towards  a  point  beyond  them,  going  towards  the 
shore,  but  at  such  an  angle  that  they  supposed  we  were 
passing  on.  Then  suddenly  he  turned  towards  them  and 
at  full  speed  bore  down  upon  them. 

By  the  time  we  had  reached  them  they  had  closed  in  upon 
the  central  canoe  and  had  taken  everything  that  was  in 
it.  There  were  thirty  men  against  five.  The  five  men 
in  the  single  canoe  had  been  to  Gaboon  with  their  garden 
produce,  or  perhaps  a  raft  of  mahogany  logs,  for  which 
they  had  bought  several  guns,  one  or  two  whole  bolts  of 
calico,  a  web  of  sail-cloth,  and  a  heap  of  sundry  cheap 
ornaments  for  their  wives,  which  might  have  been  sold 
by  the  pound  or  bushel.  The  robbers  took  all  these 
goods  and  even  took  some  of  the  paddles  the  men  were 
using.  I  was  now  at  the  wheel.  I  kept  the  Dorothy 
under  way  and  cut  a  circle  around  them,  while  I  ordered 
them  to  return  all  the  stolen  goods.  They  resented  it  as 
much  as  if  the  goods  were  actually  their  own  and  I  the 
plunderer.  But  while  they  hesitated  I  ran  against  their 
largest  canoe,  in  which  sat  the  chief,  striking  it  at  an 
angle,  near  the  bow,  so  as  not  to  break  it,  but  to  send  a 
shiver  through  it  that  showed  them  how  completely  they 
were  at  my  mercy.  They  were  willing  to  do  anything 
in  the  world  if  I  would  only  agree  not  to  repeat  that 
last  manoeuvre.  They  restored  all  the  stolen  goods; 
and  since  the  single  canoe  was  going  my  way,  I  took  it  in 
tow  to  the  delight  of  the  occupants. 


168     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

One  day,  calling  at  a  town  seventy  miles  from  the 
coast,  I  found  it  almost  torn  down  and  the  people  in  great 
distress.  They  had  decided,  months  before,  to  move  the 
entire  town  to  the  coast,  and  therefore  had  not  planted 
their  gardens  that  season.  A  month  previous  to  my 
visit  the  people  of  the  town,  with  all  their  goods  and 
chattels,  including  chickens,  goats  and  sheep,  and  in 
some  cases  even  the  material  of  their  houses,  had  been 
loaded  in  a  fleet  of  canoes  of  every  size — some  so  small 
that  a  single  man  sitting  in  one  of  them  found  it  neces- 
sary to  straddle  it  and  let  his  legs  hang  in  the  water,  and 
some  large  enough  for  a  chief  and  half  a  dozen  wives 
and  twice  as  many  children,  besides  a  few  goats,  and  a 
few  bunches  of  plantains  and  bananas.  When  they  were 
ready  to  start  a  messenger  arrived  telling  them  that  the 
people  of  Alum,  a  large  town  thirty  miles  down  the  river, 
were  lying  in  wait  for  them,  intending  to  kill  some  of 
them  or  take  them  prisoners.  These  two  towns  had  been 
friendly  of  late  ;  but  the  people  down  the  river,  knowing 
that  the  up-river  people  with  their  families  and  posses- 
sions would  be  at  an  extreme  disadvantage,  knowing  also 
that  they  could  not  long  delay  their  journey  because  of 
their  limited  supply  of  food,  bethought  them  of  some  old 
score  resulting  from  a  former  war,  and  resolved  to  lie  in 
wait  and  take  several  prisoners  in  the  hope  of  extorting 
a  ransom.  So  they  kept  men  watching  day  and  night  on 
the  river. 

The  unfortunate  people  of  the  upper  town  proved  their 
resourcefulness  by  proposing  to  me  that  I  should  tow  the 
whole  town  down  the  river  behind  the  Dorothy — and  do 
it  at  night.  I,  for  some  reason,  was  fascinated  with  the 
idea,  and  it  took  only  twelve  chickens  to  persuade  me. 

Taking  the  entire  town  in  tow,  I  started  down  the 
river  about  nine  o'clock  at  night.  Shortly  after  mid- 
night I  realized  that  we  were  approaching  the  enemy  be- 


THE  «  DOROTHY  "  169 

cause  of  the  extraordinary  silence  of  those  in  the  canoes, 
who  hitherto  had  maintained  a  deafening  noise,  but  now 
were  hushed,  having  put  out  their  torches,  and  were  lying 
down  flat  in  their  canoes  for  safety.  The  enemy  was  on 
the  watch  ;  many  canoes  were  on  the  river.  It  was  pitch 
dark,  not  a  single  light  or  sign  of  life  visible.  The 
Dorothy  as  she  suddenly  burst  upon  their  sight  with  all 
her  lights,  and  going  full  speed,  must  have  looked  very 
formidable  to  people  who  had  never  seen  anything  of  the 
kind,  for  she  had  not  before  passed  at  night.  They  may 
have  supposed  that  a  whole  battalion  of  spirits  of  all 
kinds  and  colours  were  coming  against  them.  The  effect 
was  an  immediate  panic.  Calling  loudly  to  each  other 
and  to  their  ancestors  they  hastened  to  the  bank.  It  was 
only  after  we  had  passed  that  they  discovered  the  canoes 
in  tow  and  suspected  that  their  enemies  had  outwitted 
them. 

I  visited  the  town  soon  afterwards  for  the  purpose  of 
laughing  at  them.  And  they  laughed  with  me  ;  laughed 
as  only  Africans  can  laugh. 

One  morning  just  at  the  break  of  day  Toko  burst  into 
my  bedroom  all  out  of  breath  and  cried  :  "  Oh,  Mr. 
Milligan,  Doroty  done  loss  !  Doroty  done  loss  !  I  look 
him :  he  live  for  beach.  I  fear  he  never  be  good  no  more. " 

Before  he  had  finished  I  had  jumped  out  of  bed,  and  in 
pajamas  and  bare  feet  was  running  to  the  beach  where  I 
discovered  the  Dorothy  nearly  a  mile  down  the  beach, 
stranded  and  lying  on  her  side.  It  was  the  worst  part  of 
the  whole  beach,  full  of  rocks,  a  place  where  no  one 
would  think  of  beaching  even  a  small  boat.  It  was  a 
mystery  how  she  ever  got  there  without  breaking  to 
pieces.  There  had  been  a  violent  tornado  during  the 
night  and  her  cable  had  parted.  Very  fortunately  she 
was  first  carried  out  to  sea.  A  calm  followed  and  the  sea 
gradually  became  very  quiet.  With  the  turning  tide  she 


170     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

drifted  towards  the  shore.  By  the  £me  she  was  near  the 
beach  there  was  neither  wind  nor  wave  and  she  drifted 
with  the  current  which  of  course  was  strongest  where  it 
was  deepest  and  unimpeded  by  rocks.  So  she  wound  in 
and  out,  where  no  human  pilot  could  have  guided  her, 
until  she  stranded.  Then  the  tide  receded  before  the 
wind  again  arose ;  else  she  would  have  pounded  on  the 
beach.  When  I  found  her  she  was  high  and  dry.  I 
could  not  tell  how  much  damage  she  had  received  and 
wondered  whether  she  would  ever  float  again.  It  was  a 
day  of  suspense  as  well  as  hard  work. 

It  took  until  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  to  get  her 
straightened  up  and  ready  for  the  incoming  tide  to  float 
her.  I  stayed  there  all  day,  having  sent  a  boy  to  the 
house  to  fetch  my  breakfast  and  a  pair  of  trousers. 
When  the  tide  was  low  we  carefully  marked  the  channel ; 
and  when  she  floated  we  towed  her  until  we  were  past  the 
last  rock  and  then  I  sprang  to  the  engine,  started  her  up 
and  she  was  soon  going  full  speed,  nothing  the  worse  for 
her  visit  ashore  and  evidently  glad  to  get  back  to  sea. 

It  was  a  trying  day.  I  was  standing  in  water  most  of  the 
time.  But  the  suspense  was  the  hardest  of  all.  It  is  not 
easy  to  imagine  all  that  the  launch  meant  to  me.  Every 
part  of  my  work  depended  upon  it.  I  gathered  the 
schoolboys  from  many  towns,  some  of  them  far  away,  and 
at  the  end  of  term  returned  them  to  their  homes.  I 
visited  regularly  the  various  groups  of  Christians  scattered 
in  widely  separated  towns,  and  by  means  of  the  launch 
was  preaching  in  all  the  towns  on  the  Gaboon  and  its  tribu- 
taries. Its  loss  would  have  undone  my  work.  And  be- 
sides, there  was  a  sentimental  attachment  which  I  can 
hardly  explain.  In  that  prolonged  exile,  this  commodi- 
ous, and  almost  luxurious,  launch  represented  civiliza- 
tion— fine  buildings,  libraries,  music,  hotels,  porterhouse 
steak,  ice-cream  and  so  forth,  besides  friends,  home  and 


THE  «  DOROTHY  "  '  1TL 

all  that.  "Well,  when  the  suspense  was  completely  re- 
lieved and  the  Dorothy  was  going  at  fall  speed  back  to 
her  anchorage — but  no  one  could  understand  who  has 
not  been  an  exile  from  home  and  civilization. 

At  last  and  before  very  long,  I  had  the  kind  of  crew  I 
desired.  Besides  Ndong  Koni  and  Toko,  there  were  three 
others  in  the  crew  of  the  Dorothy,  Ndutuma,  Ndong  Bisia 
and  a  small  boy,  Nkogo. 

Nkogo  was  one  of  the  brightest  of  my  schoolboys.  He 
sang  remarkably  well  and  often  led  the  singing  in  the 
school.  His  beautiful  voice  was  a  great  help  to  me  in 
holding  services  in  the  towns.  He  was  the  most  energetic 
boy  I  have  ever  known  in  Africa.  The  rest  of  us  grew 
tired  once  in  a  while,  but  Nkogo  never.  He  was  steward, 
and  my  personal  attendant  besides.  In  the  intervals  of 
his  own  work  he  was  always  relieving  somebody  else, 
Ndong  Koni  at  the  wheel,  or  Toko  at  the  engine,  or  the 
cook  in  the  galley. 

Often  we  had  to  anchor  a  mile,  or  even  two  miles,  from 
a  town,  because  of  shallow  water,  and  go  the  remaining 
distance  in  a  canoe,  perhaps  against  a  strong  current. 
Kkogo  was  always  the  first  to  volunteer  for  this  extra  work, 
except  when  it  was  necessary  several  times  in  one  day, 
and  then  it  taxed  the  strength  of  the  men.  Nkogo  was 
opposed  to  letting  another  canoe  pass  us,  even  if  they 
had  twice  our  number  of  paddles.  He  thought  it  was 
not  loyal  to  the  white  man.  At  such  times  he  would 
still  be  racing  when  all  his  companions  had  eased  up,  or 
until,  as  he  used  to  say,  "the  canoe  began  to  get  hot. " 
Life  always  presented  its  humorous  side  to  Nkogo.  It 
was  one  of  my  few  entertaining  diversions  to  hear  him 
each  night  recount,  to  those  who  had  remained  on  board 
the  Dorothy,  the  incidents  of  our  visits  in  the  towns  and 
all  that  we  had  seen  and  heard,  while  his  audience 
laughed.  I  myself  had  usually  seen  the  sickness,  the 


172     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

suffering,  the  ignorance,  the  cruelty  and  all  that  saddens 
the  heart.  But  the  real  truth  of  African  life  required 
that  my  account  should  be  supplemented  by  Nkogo's  ob- 
servations. 

Ndutuma  was  the  willing  horse  that  was  often  over- 
worked. The  heavy  end  always  came  to  him.  It  was 
he  who  cast  the  anchor  and  weighed  it  5  which  was  ex- 
ceedingly hard  work,  until,  when  the  Dorothy  had  been  in 
Africa  more  than  a  year,  we  got  a  small  anchor  for  the 
river  and  used  the  heavy  one  only  in  the  bay.  He  also 
had  charge  of  the  canoe  which  we  towed.  If,  upon 
reaching  a  town  at  the  ebb  of  the  tide,  an  acre  of  black 
mud  of  any  or  every  depth  separated  us  from  the  town, 
it  was  always  Ndutuma  who  carried  me  on  his  shoulders. 
He  was  a  large,  homely,  coarse-featured  man,  with  a  good 
eye  and  a  gentle  voice  that  was  the  perfect  expression  of 
his  kindness  and  good-nature.  And  he  was  a  direct 
product  of  missionary  effort.  For  he  belonged  to  one  of 
the  most  savage  clans  of  the  Fang.  His  town  was  burned 
several  times  by  the  French,  and  some  of  the  people  killed, 
because  of  their  unprovoked  attacks  upon  their  neigh- 
bours. Ndutuma  was  one  of  Ndong  Koni's  converts  and 
was  a  Christian  before  he  ever  saw  a  white  missionary. 
He  was  at  that  time  about  twenty  years  old. 

About  two  years  after  his  conversion  there  occurred  an 
event  in  his  life  which  revealed  the  quality  of  his  faith. 
Until  that  time  he  was  the  only  Christian  in  his  town 
and  the  way  was  hard  for  him  ;  but  shortly  afterwards 
there  were  more  Christians  in  that  town  than  in  any 
other.  Ndutuma's  wife,  preferring  a  more  warlike  hus- 
band, managed  to  get  herself  stolen  by  a  man  of  another 
tribe.  The  chief  of  Ndutuma's  town,  with  some  of  his 
allies,  made  war  on  the  offending  tribe;  but  Ndutuma 
himself  did  not  join  them  in  the  war.  The  result  was 
strange  enough,  from  the  American  point  of  view — a 


THE  «  DOROTHY  "  173 

whole  community  enraged  over  an  elopement  and  hotly 
pursuing  the  offenders,  while  the  forsaken  husband  sat 
quietly  at  home  singing  hymns.  In  Africa  the  interest 
of  each  man  belongs  to  the  whole  community,  including 
his  interest  in  his  wife. 

It  was  not  that  Ndutuma  was  glad  to  be  rid  of  her.  For 
he  certainly  did  want  a  wife,  and  any  other  that  he 
would  get  would  probably  be  as  bad.  Moreover  he  paid 
a  very  large  dowry  for  her  and  had  no  dowry  with  which 
to  procure  another.  It  was  Christian  principle  alone 
that  restrained  him.  He  said  he  would  use  all  peaceable 
means  to  get  her  back,  and  even  if  such  means  failed  he 
would  not  shed  blood.  The  hard  part  of  it  for  him  was 
the  brand  of  cowardice  and  the  bitter  reviling  from  his 
people  for  enduring  such  an  insult,  and  for  resigning  the 
woman  and  the  goods  he  had  paid  for  her.  It  required 
far  more  bravery  for  him  to  stay  at  home  than  to  join  in 
the  war.  But  he  was  firm  ;  and  in  their  hearts  they 
knew  he  was  no  coward.  They  also  learned  the  meaning 
of  Christian  faith.  They  were  still  more  willing  to  learn 
the  lesson  when  several  of  their  young  men  were  killed 
in  this  very  war,  notwithstanding  the  fetishes  which  they 
wore  for  their  protection. 

Ndutuma  never  recovered  his  wife  nor  the  dowry  he 
had  paid  for  her ;  so  he  was  left  a  poor  man.  But  most 
unexpectedly  a  rich  uncle  died  and  left  him  four  wives. 
This  was  wealth  indeed,  and  most  young  men  in  such 
luck  would  have  strutted  intolerably  before  their  fellows. 
But  Ndutuma  coolly  announced  that  he  was  not  a  heathen 
any  more ;  that  he  would  take  one  of  these  women  for  his 
wife,  whichever  of  them  wanted  him,  and  give  the  others 
to  his  poor  relations.  He  was  not  a  noisy  man,  and  that 
was  remarkable  in  Africa ;  but  he  was  a  man  without  a 
price  ;  who  was  ready  at  any  time  to  act  upon  his  faith 
without  regard  to  consequences.  He  made  enemies 


1T4     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

among  those  who  were  tenacious  of  heathen  customs. 
Not  long  after  I  left  Africa  he  died.  His  death  was 
wrapped  in  mystery ;  and  in  Africa  such  mysteries  are 
usually  related  to  poison.  I  do  not  know  that  Ndutuma 
was  a  martyr.  But  he  was  made  of  martyr  stuff.  And 
many  a  bloodthirsty  man  and  adulterous  woman  he  led 
into  ways  of  peace  and  purity. 

Ndong  Bisia  was  one  of  the  most  interesting  boys  that 
I  met  in  Africa.  He  was  not  with  me  very  long,  but  he 
was  one  of  those  occasional  Africans  that  appeal  directly 
to  the  affectional  side  of  one's  nature.  I  have  said  that 
the  Mpongwe  tribe  have  an  instinct  for  good  manners, 
and  are  the  most  courteous  people  in  West  Africa. 
But  this  Fang  boy  surpassed  them  all.  He  first  came 
to  me  as  a  schoolboy.  When  the  school  closed  at  the 
end  of  the  year  I  took  the  boys  home  with  the  Dorothy, 
and  I  was  obliged  to  stay  two  days  at  Fula  where  Ndong 
and  several  of  the  boys  lived.  I  had  asked  the  Fula  boys 
to  do  my  cooking  on  the  journey.  When  we  arrived  at 
this  town,  early  in  the  morning,  the  boys  hastened 
ashore  pell-mell  to  see  their  friends — all  but  Ndong.  He 
remembered  that  I  would  need  breakfast  and  he  stayed 
to  prepare  it. 

When  he  had  set  everything  in  order,  he  said  :  "  Mr. 
Milligan,  I  am  going  to  town  to  see  my  people  but  I 
shall  come  back  and  have  your  dinner  ready  for  you 
when  you  return  from  the  town." 

He  did  this  for  two  days.  Some  few  of  the  other  boys 
would  have  done  the  same  thing  if  I  had  asked  them,  but 
Ndong  did  it  without  being  asked  :  and  it  was  always  so. 
He  was  also  my  best  assistant  in  medical  work. 

Afterwards  he  worked  on  the  launch  and  was  with  me 
all  the  time,  often  in  trying  circumstances,  but  he  always 
presented  the  same  contrast  to  the  ingratitude  and  self- 
ishness of  the  heathenism  around  him. 


THE  «  DOROTHY  "  175 

The  two  boys,  Ndong  Bisia  and  Ndong  Koni,  are  as- 
sociated with  an  incident  in  which  they  displayed  a  hero- 
ism of  devotion  that  may  perhaps  enable  the  reader  to 
understand  how  it  is  that  a  white  man  can  love  the  people 
of  the  jungles. 

One  day  we  started  on  a  journey  with  the  Dorothy  and 
had  gone  twenty-five  miles,  across  the  bay,  when  an  ac- 
cident occurred  which  stopped  the  engine.  The  re- 
mainder of  that  day,  and  a  considerable  part  of  the  night 
and  all  the  next  day,  I  tried  in  vain  to  make  the  repair. 
I  then  decided  to  leave  the  launch  and  go  home  in  a 
canoe,  returning  immediately  with  the  Lafayette  and  crew 
to  tow  the  Dorothy  back  to  Libreville.  An  approaching 
fever  also  warned  me  not  to  work  any  longer  at  the  en- 
gine. It  chanced  that  I  had  only  a  very  small  canoe  in 
tow.  I  was  therefore  dependent  upon  being  able  to  pro- 
cure a  larger  one  from  some  native  who  might  pass  that 
way ;  and  we  were  in  an  out-of-the-way  place. 

At  last  a  canoe  came  in  sight,  in  which  was  one  soli- 
tary woman.  I  called  loudly  to  her  across  the  water,  but 
she  was  afraid  and  would  not  come  near.  Among  the 
heterogeneous  and  somewhat  outlandish  variety  of  goods 
which  I  always  carried  there  happened  to  be  a  dress 
which  had  once  belonged  to  a  white  woman  and  which 
had  been  discarded  years  before,  when  the  woman  re- 
turned to  America.  It  was  a  gorgeous  purple  affair, 
much  the  worse  for  wear.  The  native  woman  (to  whom 
I  offered  it),  yelling  at  the  very  top  of  her  voice,  an- 
swered :  "  What  do  I  want  with  a  dress  T  I'm  all  right 
as  I  am ;  I  never  had  any  such  thing  on  in  my  life." 

I  told  her  that  this  was  a  very  fine  dress  which  had  once 
been  worn  by  a  white  woman. 

She  hesitated,  but  again  answered  :  "It  would  only 
cover  my  ornaments  so  that  people  would  not  know  that 
I  have  them  ;  and  besides  it  would  not  fit  me." 


176     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

Her  "ornaments"  were  half  a  dozen  large  brass 
leg-rings  which  she  wore  between  her  ankles  and  her 
knees. 

But  necessity  in  this  instance  was  not  only  loud,  but 
eloquent.  I  pleaded  that  she  could  rattle  her  ornaments 
as  she  walked — which  they  know  well  how  to  do — and 
the  people  would  think  that  she  had  ever  so  many  ;  and, 
besides,  when  they  were  covered  she  would  not  need  to 
keep  them  polished.  As  to  its  fitting,  I  yelled  to  her 
that  I  had  scissors,  needle  and  thread,  and  that  I  would 
make  it  fit  perfectly.  Being  at  various  times  engineer, 
carpenter  and  blacksmith,  it  was  easy  enough  to  be  a 
dressmaker. 

There  was  some  persuasion  in  my  arguments,  for  again 
she  hesitated.  But,  after  further  reflection,  she  moved 
on,  replying  :  "I'm  all  right  as  I  am ;"  in  which  mind 
I  presume  she  continues  to  this  day. 

Two  hours  after  nightfall  another  canoe  approached,  in 
which  were  several  men  whom  on  a  former  occasion  I 
had  towed  across  the  bay,  and  they  were  now  eager 
to  do  anything  possible  to  help  me.  I  borrowed  their 
canoe  and  engaged  one  of  their  men.  The  canoe  was  a 
lamentable  and  ancient  affair.  One  side  was  badly  split, 
and  in  the  other  side  there  was  a  part  so  rotten  that  I 
thought  I  could  have  thrust  my  foot  through  it.  The 
sail  was  a  mosaic  of  old  shirts  and  other  cast-off  garments. 
The  sheet  was  a  bit  of  rotten  rope  pieced  out  with  vine. 
After  a  thorough  inspection  I  was  unable  to  pronounce 
the  craft  seaworthy,  but  I  decided  to  risk  it ;  and,  in 
case  of  emergency,  I  provided  myself  with  a  saucepan 
and  a  ball  of  twine  :  the  former  to  bail  out  water,  and 
the  latter  for  a  variety  of  uses. 

Ndong  Koni  and  Ndong  Bisia,  besides  the  stranger, 
returned  with  me.  Both  boys  made  humorous  comments 
upon  the  canoe  and  begged  me  not  to  attempt  to  cross  the 


THE  "DOROTHY'2  177 

bay  in  it.  But  I  did  not  see  that  I  had  any  alternative. 
So  we  set  out  upon  the  deep  with  no  other  material  re- 
sources than  a  saucepan  and  a  ball  of  twine.  At  first  we 
were  in  quiet  water  ;  but  after  a  few  minutes,  having 
turned  a  point  of  laud,  we  were  suddenly  out  on  the  bay. 
As  we  got  further  out  the  wind  increased  and  blew  hard, 
and  the  sea,  though  not  really  bad,  was  far  too  rough  for 
such  a  canoe.  Nothing  but  sheer  exhaustion  saved  me 
from  a  state  of  fright.  But,  what  was  more  significant, 
the  two  Ndongs  were  also  alarmed  for  our  safety. 

I  was  in  the  bottom  of  the  canoe,  reclining  against  a 
thwart,  on  the  verge  of  sleep,  but  conscious  of  all  that 
was  going  on.  With  the  increasing  wind  and  the  strain- 
ing of  the  whole  canoe  I  felt  that  something  must  soon 
happen  by  way  of  climax.  The  only  question  was 
whether  the  collapse,  when  it  came,  would  be  particular 
or  general.  Suddenly  a  gust  of  wind  was  followed  by  a 
crash.  The  boom  was  gone,  the  sheet  broken,  the  sail 
torn.  A  passing  wave  drenched  us  and  almost  swamped 
the  canoe.  Then  I  plied  the  saucepan  diligently,  while 
Ndong  Koni  dexterously  managed  the  canoe — for  we  were 
in  the  trough  of  the  sea — and  Ndong  Bisia  and  the  other 
man,  using  the  ball  of  twine,  made  a  new  sheet  and  tied 
the  torn  sail.  ^Before  long  we  were  again  speeding  ahead, 
though  not  so  fast,  for  we  had  no  boom.  We  had  other 
startling  experiences  during  the  night ;  but  at  length  we 
reached  the  land  shortly  before  daylight. 

I  have  told  more  than  enough  for  my  purpose  and  have 
admitted  irrelevant  details.  We  were  in  extreme  danger 
that  night,  and  more  than  once  we  doubted  whether  we 
would  reach  land.  But  through  all  the  long  night,  with 
its  mischances  and  dangers,  nothing  else  so  impressed  me 
even  at  the  time,  and  nothing  else  still  remains  with  me 
so  vividly,  as  the  devotion  of  those  two  boys,  Ndong 
Koni  and  Ndong  Bisia  ;  their  anxiety  for  my  safety  and 


178     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

their  utter  disregard  of  their  own  danger.  And  if  occa- 
sion had  come,  I  know  that  they  would  have  sacrificed 
their  lives  to  save  mine.  Such  boys  are  worth  labouring 
for  and  worth  living  for. 


XI 

SCHOOLBOYS 

UPON  my  first  arrival  in  Africa — at  Batanga — 
Dr.  Good,  Mr.  Kerr  and  myself  immediately 
prepared  for  an  overland  journey  to  the  Bulu 
interior. 

Early  one  morning,  the  caravan  being  ready  and  in 
form,  we  were  about  to  move,  when,  at  the  last  moment, 
a  small  boy,  frightfully  dirty,  came  bounding  out  of  the 
dark  forest,  all  out  of  breath  as  if  chased  by  cannibals, 
and  throwing  himself  at  my  feet,  entreated  me  to  take 
him  to  the  interior  as  my  personal  attendant.  Every 
white  man  is  supposed  to  have  a  "boy."  I  had  ex- 
pected to  engage  a  Bulu  boy  upon  reaching  the  interior. 
But  the  African  has  a  remarkable  talent  for  importunity. 
This  boy  said  his  name  was  Lolo,  and  I  half  relented  at 
the  sound  of  it.  Lolo  might  have  been  ten  or  eleven 
years  old  ;  although,  as  Dr.  Good  remarked  at  the  time, 
it  was  not  easy  to  understand  how  he  could  get  so  much 
dirt  on  him  in  only  ten  years. 

"Go  and  wash  yourself  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean,'"  I 
said  ;  ' '  and  when  I  see  what  colour  you  are  I  shall  consider 
the  matter  of  engaging  you." 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  African  is  surprisingly  clean 
— for  a  savage ;  and  this  boy  had  probably  accumulated 
most  of  his  dirt  in  his  desperate  plunge  through  the 
jungle-paths  that  he  might  reach  Batanga  before  the 
caravan  should  set  out.  He  proved  to  be  a  very  hand- 
some boy,  of  delicate  features  and  intelligent  expression, 
and  with  irresistibly  beautiful  eyes.  He  was  lighter  in 

179 


180     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

colour  than  the  average.  And  I  take  this  opportunity  of 
saying  that  there  are  as  many  shades  of  complexion 
amoDg  Africans  as  among  other  people.  There  are  dif- 
ferences between  tribes  and  between  individuals  of  the 
same  tribe.  As  one  goes  towards  the  interior  the  tribal 
colour  is  decidedly  lighter.  The  Mpongwe  people  are 
black — sometimes  almost  coal-black — beside  the  light- 
brown  Fang.  There  are  individual  Fang  who  are  yellow. 
Ndong  Koni  is  as  fair  as  an  average  mulatto.  And  when 
the  skin  is  smooth  and  soft  this  colour  is  the  favourite 
complexion.  But  the  albino  (and  they  are  not  uncom- 
mon) is  an  abhorrence. 

Lolo's  eyes  danced  with  joy  when  I  engaged  him. 
African  eyes  as  compared  with  others,  besides  being  re- 
markable organs  of  sight,  serve  a  great  variety  of  second- 
ary uses.  They  can  laugh,  or  sing,  or  plead,  or  weep ; 
they  can  love,  or  they  can  break  all  the  commandments. 
But  the  most  beautiful  and  expressive  eyes  in  Africa  are 
those  of  the  boys.  Lolo  at  once  regarded  this  new  re- 
lationship as  a  kind  of  fatherhood  'on  my  part ;  and  he 
amply  repaid  me,  not  only  in  faithful  service,  but  also  in 
personal  devotion  which  was  quite  pathetic,  and  which 
in  the  course  of  events  was  put  to  an  extreme  test.  He 
was  both  brave  and  affectionate — a  typical  African  boy. 

On  my  part,  it  was  my  knowledge  of  Lolo  that  first 
inspired  me  with  a  strong  desire  for  a  school,  and 
enabled  me  to  realize  what  a  moral  factor  a  school  of  such 
boys  might  become  in  transforming  the  life  of  the  people. 
The  African  baby  is  a  beautiful,  solemn-eyed  little  crea- 
ture, who  looks  out  at  the  world  as  if  he  were  undecided 
whether  to  stay.  About  half  of  them  decide  not  to  stay. 
The  African  baby  is  cunning  and  bright,  but  it  seldom 
cries,  and  it  is  not  given  to  play  nearly  as  much  as  the  white 
child.  As  the  child  grows  older  he  cheers  up.  It  has 
been  said  that  only  when  he  reaches  years  of  indiscre- 


SCHOOLBOYS  181 

tion  does  the  African  become  joyful.  From  that  time  on 
he  is  joyful  to  the  eud.  But  the  African  boy,  before  he 
becomes  stupidly  happy,  bears  the  strongest  stamp  of 
humanity  and  is  more  interesting  than  at  any  other  stage 
in  his  career. 

On  the  first  long  march  into  the  forest,  Lolo  easily 
kept  up  with  the  caravan  and  when  we  arrived  in  camp 
busied  himself  in  waiting  upon  "  his  white  man  " — open- 
ing my  box  of  clothing  and  getting  everything  that  I 
wanted,  taking  off  my  shoes,  bringing  water,  making  niy 
bed,  helping  the  cook,  waiting  at  supper  and  a  score 
of  other  duties.  On  the  first  day  of  this  journey  we 
passed  through  Lolo's  town,  about  two  or  three  hours 
from  the  coast.  The  chief  was  Lolo's  own  father  and 
there  was  some  likelihood  of  trouble ;  for  the  boy  had 
slipped  away  without  his  father's  knowledge.  Lolo  hid 
in  the  bush  while  I  sat  down  in  the  palaver-house  and 
called  for  the  chief,  thinking  it  best  to  tell  him  that  I  had 
employed  his  boy  and  in  some  way  to  win  his  consent. 
He  kept  me  waiting  an  unusually  long  time.  But  when 
he  appeared  no  explanation  was  necessary  ;  it  was  evident 
that  he  had  been  making  his  toilet.  He  was  dressed  in  a 
pink  calico  Mother  Hubbard,  which  came  about  to  his 
knees  and  was  longer  in  front  than  behind.  I  thought 
he  had  it  on  wrong  side  to  the  front,  but  I  was  not  sure. 
It  was  the  more  incongruous  because  he  was  very  tall  and 
strongly  built.  He  was  so  preoccupied  with  this  new  robe 
of  state  that  it  was  the  easiest  thing  in  the  world  for  him  to 
part  with  a  son  ;  and  there  was  no  need  of  a  present,  nor 
even  of  diplomacy.  During  my  first  term  in  Africa,  a 
year  and  a  half,  Lolo  was  with  me  all  the  time. 

He  had  been  with  me  a  whole  month,  and  I  had  about 
concluded  that  I  had  ensnared  an  angel,  when  one  day  I 
discovered  in  him  a  large  inheritance  of  latent  savagery. 
There  was  another  boy  at  Efulen  about  the  same  age  as 


182     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

Lolo.  They  used  the  same  bucket  to  fetch  water.  A 
dispute  arose  as  to  who  should  have  the  bucket  first.  The 
dispute  developed  by  rapid  stages  into  a  quarrel,  and 
then  a  fight.  An  extreme  unwillingness  to  part  with  the 
bucket  was  followed  by  excessive  willingness  ;  and  when 
I  came  in  sight,  they  were  passing  it  back  and  forth  to 
each  other  with  deplorable  vivacity,  which  threatened  to 
put  the  bucket  out  of  service  for  all  time.  But  their 
savage  yells  and  distortions  of  countenance  were  so  amaz- 
ing and  impressive  that  the  flying  bucket  was  reduced  to 
an  insignificant  detail.  As  I  approached  they  closed  in 
upon  each  other,  then  fell  to  the  ground  each  with  his 
arms  tight  around  the  other's  neck  and  intent  upon  noth- 
ing short  of  murder.  Having  rolled  over  several  times, 
they  came  to  the  edge  of  a  very  steep  hill  that  had  been 
cleared  for  a  road.  Down  this  hill  they  rolled  together 
at  such  a  rate  that  they  continued  to  cling  to  each  other 
for  safety  and  because  there  was  nothing  else  to  cling  to. 
They  received  so  many  jolts  and  bruises  on  the  way  that 
about  the  time  they  reached  the  bottom,  or  soon  after,  a 
bond  of  sympathy  united  them  and  they  were  friends. 

Shortly  afterwards  I  fell  sick  with  a  fever  and  lay  in 
bed  several  weeks,  first  in  a  tent  and  then  in  a  native 
hut.  It  was  through  those  long,  weary  weeks  that  I 
fully  tested  the  patience  and  the  devotion  of  Lolo,  and  the 
little  servant  of  the  jungles  became  a  friend  whom  I  shall 
never  forget.  As  I  grew  worse  the  people  when  ap- 
proaching had  to  be  warned  not  to  make  a  noise,  and 
warned  again  after  their  arrival,  and  warned  once  a 
minute  while  they  remained.  When  Lolo  was  not  doing 
this  or  engaged  in  some  other  urgent  service  he  was  sit- 
ting beside  my  bed,  sometimes  keeping  cold  water  on  my 
head,  or  fanning  me,  and  if  no  immediate  service  was 
necessary  he  still  sat  there  so  as  to  be  on  hand  when  I  re- 
quired him.  There  was  nothing  to  look  at  but  bark 


SCHOOLBOYS  183 

walls  and  an  earthen  floor  and  he  could  not  even  see 
those  very  well,  for  empty  salt-bags  had  been  hung  over 
the  windows  to  darken  the  room.  I  marvelled  at  his  de- 
votion, which  I  had  done  nothing  in  the  world  to  earn, 
except  that  I  was  fond  of  him.  It  was  no  sense  of  duty 
that  impelled  him,  nor  any  moral  obligation — the  African 
is  not  strong  on  morals — but  it  was  purely  a  service  of 
love,  and  it  would  have  done  credit  to  any  white  friend. 
Often  when  he  thought  I  was  asleep  I  felt  his  hand  laid 
on  my  forehead  to  see  if  the  fever  was  high.  Often,  in- 
deed, the  little  African  boy  in  the  service  of  the  white 
man  regards  him  with  an  abandoned  devotion  peculiar  to 
his  race,  and  with  a  love  which  his  own  father  has  never 
awakened,  although  there  is  bound  up  with  it  all  the 
moral  possibilities  of  the  boy. 

After  leaving  Kameruu  I  still  kept  track  of  Lolo. 
Others  followed  me  who  were  at  least  as  good  to  him  as  I 
was  ;  and  it  is  a  great  satisfaction  to  know  that  he  did  not 
grow  up  into  a  savage.  And  yet  of  such  stuff  are  sav- 
ages made.  Hamlet,  in  the  churchyard,  reflecting  sadly 
upon  the  base  uses  to  which  our  bodies  may  return,  ob- 
serves that  imagination  may  trace  the  noble  dust  of  Alex- 
ander till  one  finds  it  stopping  a  bung-hole  ;  and  that 
"Imperius  Caesar,  dead  and  turned  to  clay,  May  stop  a 
hole  to  keep  the  wind  away."  It  is  a  matter  for  at  least 
as  grave  reflection  that  out  of  the  same  living  boy  may 
be  made  the  bloodthirsty  savage,  or  the  kind  of  man 
which  is  called  "the  noblest  work  of  God."  Which  of 
the  two  a  boy  is  destined  to  become  depends  somewhat  on 
whether  his  name  happens  to  be  Lolo,  or  John. 

It  was  years  after  that  I  opened,  at  Baraka,  in  the 
French  Congo,  a  boarding-school  for  Fang  boys.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  term  I  gathered  the  boys  and  brought 
them  to  Baraka  with  the  Dorothy.  The  mountain  does 
not  come  to  Mahomet,  so  Mahomet  goes  and  fetches  it. 


184     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

As  they  were  scattered  over  the  entire  area  of  the  great 
Fang  field,  the  opening  of  the  school  was  a  formidable 
labour  of  two  weeks ;  and  it  was  also  the  most  exhausting 
and  trying  experience  of  the  whole  year.  For  these  two 
weeks  were  spent  not  in  actual  travel,  but  nearly  all  of  it 
in  the  towns  in  red-hot  contentions  with  the  parents  of 
the  boys,  who  at  the  first  were  always  unwilling  to  let 
them  come  to  the  school.  In  the  more  remote  towns 
many  of  them  suspected  that  I  wanted  to  sell  the  boys 
into  slavery,  or  even  to  kill  them  for  some  unknown  pur- 
pose. There  were  days,  before  the  school  was  well  known, 
when  I  was  utterly  disheartened  by  their  continual  re- 
fusal, in  town  after  town,  to  let  me  have  their  boys, 
though  there  were  many  bright  lads  in  most  of  the  towns. 

The  boys  themselves  would  have  come ;  the  trouble  was 
with  their  parents.  Sometimes  I  was  constrained  to  say 
that  the  parental  institution  was  an  intolerable  nuisance  ; 
or,  at  least,  that  the  African  child  might  well  envy  the 
blessed  Melchizedek  who  ;was  without  father  or  mother. 
But  orphans  are  not  to  be  found.  Each  child  has  a  score 
of  parents  ;  for  a  child's  parents  include  all  his  uncles 
and  aunts  even  several  degrees  removed.  The  child  of 
course  knows  his  own  parents  and  makes  a  difference  be- 
tween them  and  the  rest ;  but  he  addresses  them  all  as 
" Father"  or  " Mother,"  and  they  divide  parental  au- 
thority among  them,  all  taking  a  hand  in  the  child's 
bringing-up  :  and  it  must  be  admitted  that  no  better  way 
could  be  devised  for  bringing  up  a  first-class  savage. 

I  usually  held  a  service  in  the  town.  Then  I  asked  the 
people  for  boys  for  my  school,  explaining  the  purpose  of 
the  school.  The  first  reply  was  always  a  loud  general 
consent — which  did  not  deceive  me  ;  for  I  knew  that  it 
was  only  general  and  did  not  apply  to  any  particular 
boy.  As  soon  as  a  boy  jumps  up  and  says,  "  I  want  to 
go,"  immediately  several  fathers  and  a  score  of  mothers 


SCHOOLBOYS  185 

order  him  to  sit  down;  another  boy  expresses  his  de- 
sire to  come,  and  another  score  of  parents  protest.  Then 
the  war  is  on  ;  and  during  its  progress  I  usually  receive 
a  goodly  share  of  cursing  and  abuse.  With  some  I  argue, 
with  some  I  plead  ;  sometimes  I  flatter,  sometimes  I 
scold — anything  to  get  the  boy.  Besides  diplomacy,  a 
present  of  a  piece  of  laundry  soap  was  a  necessity.  I  car- 
ried the  yellowest  kind  of  it,  in  long  bars  which  I  cut  off 
by  the  inch. 

I  would  not  take  any  boy,  whom  I  had  not  had  before, 
without  his  parents'  consent.  Aud  if  I  failed  to  obtain 
their  consent,  however  unreasonable  they  might  be,  I  de- 
clined to  take  the  boy,  though  I  often  left  him  crying  on 
the  bank,  or  sometimes  fighting  a  whole  mob  of  his  nu- 
merous relations  single-handed.  But  if  the  boy  had  been 
in  my  school  before  and  I  had  expended  mouths  of  labour 
upon  him  the  question  was  quite  different.  I  then  felt 
that  I  had  a  claim  upon  him,  and  I  would  take  him  if  I 
possibly  could,  even  in  spite  of  his  parents. 

In  one  town  I  met  a  fine  boy,  Ndong  Nzenye,  a  tiny 
and  handsome  child,  who  had  already  been  in  my  school. 
Of  course  he  wished  to  return,  and  I  was  delighted  that 
there  seemed  to  be  no  parental  objections.  But  at  the 
last  moment  the  inevitable  mother  appeared,  and  on  gen- 
eral principles  vetoed  his  coming.  "When  she  saw  that 
she  was  unable  to  prevail  she  flew  at  him  to  give  him  a 
parting  blow.  He  ran  the  length  of  the  street — the 
woman  following  at  his  heels — and  back  again,  and 
towards  me  for  protection.  I  also  ran  towards  him  ;  but 
she  was  gaining  on  him,  and  just  before  we  met  she 
struck  him,  on  the  back,  a  blow  with  her  fist  that  hurt 
him  badly,  and  with  a  cry  he  fell  into  my  arms.  She 
said  :  "  Now  you  can  go  with  your  white  father  ;  "  and 
she  went  into  the  house  looking  as  if  she  thought  she  had 
done  a  good  deed. 


186     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFEICA 

He  was  leaving  home  for  six  months  and  that  was  his 
farewell.  One  naturally  wonders  whether  there  are  any 
moral  possibilities  for  a  boy  who  comes  of  such  stock  and 
from  such  a  home.  Yet  that  boy,  as  I  knew  him  for  two 
years,  in  the  school  and  out  of  it,  was  gentle,  obedient 
and  lovable  ;  though  if  he  had  remained  in  that  town  he 
would  have  grown  up  a  savage  like  his  people. 

Although  such  mothers  are  not  uncommon,  yet  as  a 
rule  when  it  was  settled  that  the  boy  was  coming  to 
school  his  mother  would  prepare  him  some  little  delicacy 
to  eat  on  the  way  ;  and  occasionally,  though  seldom,  I 
have  been  touched  by  evidences  of  real  tenderness.  In  a 
certain  far-away  bush-town,  more  than  one  hundred  miles 
in  the  interior,  I  approached  an  old  woman  to  plead  her 
consent  for  her  boy  who  was  eager  to  come  with  me. 
The  Fang  word  for  no  is  JcoTco  (kaw-kaw).  As  soon  as  I 
had  spoken  she  began  shaking  her  head,  in  regular  time 
with  her  words,  and  repeating  in  a  continous  monotone  : 
"Ko-ko-ko-ko-ko-ko-ko-ko,"  on  and  on,  like  an  agitated 
crow,  all  the  time  I  was  talking,  and  seeming  not  to  stop 
for  breath.  I  talked  loud  however,  and  she  heard.  I 
told  her  how  much  the  other  boys  who  belong  to  that 
town  would  in  future  surpass  her  boy,  until  at  length  I 
saw  that  her  judgment  was  convinced  and  was  gaining  a 
slow  victory  over  her  feelings.  She  was  still  shaking  her 
head,  and  she  continued  the  ceaseless  "  Ko-ko-ko-ko  "  ; 
but  big  tears  were  rolling  down  her  cheeks,  for  she  knew 
that  she  was  going  to  yield.  She  was  gradually  lowering 
her  voice,  while  I  went  on  to  say  that  I  would  take  good 
care  of  her  boy  and  that  I  could  teach  him  many  things 
that  she  did  not  know.  By  this  time,  though  she  was 
still  shaking  her  head  very  slowly,  her  voice  had  died  out. 
I  gave  the  woman  a  big  piece  of  laundry  soap — four 
inches  perhaps. 

In  one  town  a  father  whose  boy  had  been  in  my  school 


EKANG. 
A   little  scholar. 


DISPENSARY — THE   DAILY   CLINIC. 

At  the  extreme  end,  on  the  spectator's  left,  Mendam   (sec  pp.  191,  198) 

is  the  boy  who  is  kneeling,  and  has  his  hands  on  another 

boy's  shoulders. 


SCHOOLBOYS  187 

refused  to  let  him  come  the  second  time,  giving  as  his 
reason  that  I  was  teaching  him  not  to  kill  people,  while 
he  wished  him  to  kill.  The  father  had  heard  him,  after 
he  had  been  in  my  school,  teaching  the  people  of  the 
town  a  new  commandment  :  "Thou  shalt  not  kill."  I 
tried  my  best  to  get  the  boy  back  again  in  the  school  in 
spite  of  his  father ;  but  I  did  not  succeed.  I  wonder  how 
many  he  has  killed  by  this  time  ! 

In  a  certain  town  at  the  head  of  one  of  the  smaller 
rivers  of  the  lower  Gaboon  there  was  one  of  my  boys, 
named  Ekang,  a  little  fellow  whom  I  regarded  as  the 
brightest  boy  in  school ;  at  least  he  led  them  all  in  French. 
I  reached  the  town  about  ten  o'clock  at  night.  The  peo- 
ple were  all  asleep  ;  but  Ekang  soon  heard  my  voice  in 
the  street  and  came  quickly.  He  approached  making 
amusing  and  mysterious  signs  to  me,  enjoining  silence, 
which  he  explained  when  he  came  up  by  whispering : 
"She's  asleep." 

There  was  no  need  to  explain  who  "she"  was.  But 
even  while  he  was  speaking  "she"  had  awakened  and 
was  charging  furiously  down  the  street.  The  boy  pro- 
posed that  I  should  take  his  hand  and  run  ;  bnt  the  sug- 
gestion did  not  appeal  to  me  ;  so  I  turned  and  faced  the 
foe.  Ekang  got  behind  me,  and  for  further  safety  put 
his  arms  around  my  waist.  She  made  a  dash  at  him,  but 
he  circled  around  to  the  other  side.  Then  began  a 
gymnastic  performance  of  which  I  was  literally  the 
centre,  the  two  revolving  about  me,  first  one  way,  then 
the  other,  the  boy's  arms  still  around  my  waist,  and  both 
of  them  keeping  up  a  lively  and  impressive  conversation, 
which,  with  the  African,  is  inseparable  from  action.  If  I 
have  the  slightest  degree  of  that  personal  dignity  that 
would  seem  to  be  the  right  of  a  man  who  believes  the 
first  chapter  of  Genesis,  neither  mother  nor  son  recog- 
nized it.  Failing  to  lay  hold  of  him  in  this  manner  she 


188     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

then  tried  to  catch  his  hands  at  my  waist ;  but  here  I  as- 
serted my  rights  and  kept  her  at  full  arms'  length. 
When  I  told  her  that  I  really  could  not  have  her  so  near 
to  me,  she  replied  :  "I'm  not  after  you  [which  greatly 
relieved  me]  :  I'm  after  my  boy  ;  for  I'm  his  mother." 

I  said  that  it  was  impossible  that  she  could  be  his 
mother ;  that  mothers  love  their  children,  and  that  she 
talked  as  if  she  wanted  to  kill  this  child ;  and  seeing  that 
he  was  one  of  my  favourite  boys  I  must  take  him  away 
from  her  cruelty.  A  long  and  trying  altercation  followed, 
despite  the  late  hour,  and  a  hard  day's  work.  At  last  she 
was  so  far  reduced,  or  so  sleepy  that  it  was  only  a  matter 
of  judging  how  much  soap  it  would  take  to  complete  the 
victory.  It  took  nearly  half  a  bar ;  but*it  sealed  a  strong 
friendship. 

I  could  almost  write  a  poem  on  laundry  soap.  I  had 
never  before  imagined  the  intimate  relation  of  soap  and 
sentiment.  Even  in  our  own  land  it  ranks  about  next  to 
godliness  :  but  in  Africa  godliness  usually  takes  a  second 
place  to  laundry  soap.  My  own  method  was  to  try  god- 
liness first  and  then  to  follow  up  the  effect  with  laundry 
soap. 

One  mother,  who  was  not  in  town  when  her  husband  let 
me  have  their  boy,  having  heard  upon  her  return  that 
the  boy  had  gone,  immediately  followed  us  in  a  canoe, 
and  overtook  us  at  the  next  town.  She  came  close  to  the 
launch  and,  shrieking  like  a  maniac,  took  a  rank  poison 
which  she  had  provided  for  the  purpose,  and  holding  it 
up  in  her  hand  declared  that  if  I  would  not  deliver 
the  boy  to  her  instantly  she  should  swallow  the  poison. 
I  parleyed  with  her  a  while  until  I  felt  that  she 
probably  meant  what  she  said.  After  death,  she  as- 
sured me,  she  would  haunt  me  and  cause  me  all  kinds  of 
trouble  as  long  as  I  lived.  My  wives  would  fall  in  love 
with  other  men  and  would  run  away  ;  as  fast  as  I  could 


SCHOOLBOYS  189 

marry  others  they  also  would  leave  me.  This  was  an  ap- 
palling prospect  for  a  single  man  ;  so  I  gave  her  the  boy. 

Towards  the  close  of  a  tonr  of  this  kind  the  nights  were 
uncomfortable  because  of  the  many  that  had  to  be  ac- 
commodated in  the  launch.  I  have  never  laid  claim  to 
genius  except  on  the  ground  that  I  could  put  more  boys 
into  one  bed  than  any  man  of  my  generation.  The 
launch  was  supposed  to  provide  sleeping  room  for  six 
persons.  But  more  than  once  I  made  it  accommodate  as 
many  as  thirty,  ten  of  them  being  adults.  The  retiring 
of  such  a  company  at  bedtime  was  a  strategic  perform- 
ance that  required  strict  and  skilful  oversight  and  called 
for  some  very  precise  manoeuvres. 

It  was  much  more  difficult  to  get  boys  from  the  towns 
of  the  upper  river.  The  people  were  more  ignorant  and 
savage.  One  day  on  one  of  these  trips,  after  several 
successive  failures,  I  called  at  a  certain  town,  IMla, 
where  I  held  a  service  and  asked  for  boys  and  after  much 
talking  procured  one  boy.  Then  I  went  further  up  the 
river  to  a  town  named  Mfu,  where  I  anchored  for  the 
night.  It  was  the  hot  season  of  the  year.  I  had  left 
Angom  at  daylight  that  morning,  had  done  some  hard 
work  on  the  engine,  had  called  at  several  towns  and  had 
held  a  service  in  each,  preaching  in  undershirt,  overalls 
and  grease.  Besides  there  was  the  responsible  work  of 
navigating  in  these  rapid  waters  of  the  upper  river — in 
short  I  was  dead  tired.  After  a  hasty  supper,  I  went 
ashore  and  held  a  long  service  at  Mfu.  The  attendance 
was  very  large  and  was  followed  by  endless  conversation  ; 
for  a  white  face  was  a  rare  sight  and  the  message  of  the 
Gospel  quite  strange.  When  I  asked  for  boys  one  boy 
said  he  wanted  to  come  ;  but  he  had  overlooked  the  con- 
sideration of  his  mother's  consent.  A  little  later  she 
burst  upon  the  scene  in  a  tropical  rage.  She  was  fairly 
crazed  with  anger.  I  tried  to  persuade  her  that  I  had  no 


190     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

intention  of  eating  her  boy,  nor  of  turning  him  into  a 
monkey  or  a  hobgoblin.  On  the  matter  of  the  monkey 
she  was  not  easily  convinced,  for  she  had  heard  of  white 
men  doing  such  things  and  selling  the  monkeys  on  pass- 
ing steamers.  "  Moreover  (observing  my  eye-glasses), 
what  was  that  thing  that  I  wore  on  my  eyes,"  she  would 
like  to  know,  "but  the  very  diabolical  fetish  by  which  I 
changed  people  into  monkeys?  and  I  had  best  take  care 
how  I  looked  at  her  through  that  fetish,  for  she  was  not 
a  person  to  be  trifled  with,  but  very  dangerous  when 
roused,  though  naturally  good." 

She  was  so  ugly  with  anger,  and  so  ferocious  that  if 
my  glasses  had  really  been  endowed  with  power  to 
change  her  into  an  average  monkey  I  might  have  been 
tempted  to  use  them  for  the  improvement  of  her  looks 
and  her  manners.  There  was  no  use  in  talking  that 
night ;  she  scarcely  heard  me;  and  about  ten  o'clock  I 
returned  to  the  launch,  without  the  boy,  and  dreadfully 
tired. 

In  the  interval  of  my  absence,  the  man  of  Ikala  who 
had  given  me  his  boy,  repenting  of  his  goodness  (the 
only  thing  the  savage  ever  repents  of),  had  followed  me 
up  the  river  with  several  friends,  all  armed,  and  had 
stolen  the  boy  from  the  launch.  Nor  did  he  even  have 
the  good  manners  to  leave  the  two  inches  of  soap  that  I 
had  given  him. 

Next  morning  before  breakfast  I  again  landed,  hoping 
by  more  substantial  eloquence  to  persuade  the  woman  of 
Mfu.  For  the  boy,  whose  name  was  Mfega,  was  a  very 
manly  little  fellow  and  wanted  to  come  as  much  as  I 
wanted  to  have  him.  I  took  with  me  a  pair  of  bright, 
brass  arm-rings  that  had  cost  seven  cents — the  largest 
present  I  ever  made  for  the  purpose.  I  turned  them 
about  in  the  sunlight  as  I  passed  her  house,  and  indif- 
ferently rattled  them.  After  a  while  I  went  straight  to 


SCHOOLBOYS  191 

her  house  and  offered  her  the  rings  for  the  boy.  Not- 
withstanding Paul's  contempt,  I  found  the  eloquence  of 
sounding  brass  more  persuasive  than  the  tongue  of  an 
angel,  which  I  had  before  assumed.  She  surrendered 
him  to  me,  not  even  prescribing  how  he  should  be 
cooked.  Mfega  returned  to  his  town  after  several  months 
and  he  taught  these  same  people  to  sing  our  hymns  and 
told  them  many  things  he  had  learned  about  the  true  God  ; 
and  my  reception  ever  after  that  was  friendly  and  cordial. 

I  then  crossed  the  river  to  another  town,  called  Fula, 
where  the  government  had  lately  established  a  post, 
which  was  in  charge  of  two  black  soldiers  of  Senegal, 
imported  by  the  French.  I  visited  in  Fula  a  while  and 
then  set  out  to  a  bush-town,  or  group  of  towns,  called 
NJcol  Amvam,  more  than  two  hours  from  the  river.  I 
have  said  elsewhere  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  a  mile  in 
Africa,  and  that  periods  of  time  are  used  as  terms  of 
linear  distance.  The  road  was  at  the  very  worst,  much 
of  the  way  knee-deep  in  mud,  for  it  was  the  wet  season. 
The  boys  called  it  ebol  men — a  rotten  road.  The  part  of 
one  that  was  above  ground  was  kept  moist  by  the  drip- 
ping undergrowth  that  met  across  the  path,  which  was 
also  full  of  thorns  and  briers.  Seldom  had  I  travelled  on 
any  such  road,  and  not  at  all  since  the  days,  long  past, 
when  I  had  walked  with  Dr.  Good  in  the  Bulu  interior. 
I  had  now  been  in  Africa  a  long  time,  and  this  road  was 
almost  too  much  for  me. 

I  had  with  me  for  guide  one  of  my  schoolboys,  Mendam, 
who  lived  in  a  town  a  little  further  down  the  river. 
Mendam  was  one  of  the  characters  of  the  school,  inde- 
pendent and  original,  a  chucklesome  boy  with  the  best 
laugh  in  the  school.  Mendam  thought  that  the  walk 
over  such  a  road  was  too  much  for  "  his  white  man  "  in 
his  present  state  of  health,  and  I  was  touched  by  the 
feeling  of  regard  and  sympathy  that  he  showed.  We 


came  to  a  running  stream  almost  to  our  knees,  clear  and 
cool,  so  grateful  and  refreshing  that  I  halted  and  stood  in 
the  middle  of  it  for  some  time,  quite  tired.  Immediately 
Mendam  was  on  his  knees  washing  the  mud  off  my  feet 
and  trousers. 

Though  I  had  never  before  been  in  I'fkol  Amvam  I  had 
had  five  of  their  boys  in  my  school  the  preceding  year. 
The  chief  had  brought  them  out  to  the  river.  I  was 
therefore  not  entirely  a  stranger,  and  as  usual  the  ex- 
ceedingly kind  reception  which  I  received  from  all  the 
people  was  in  striking  contrast  to  that  of  those  towns 
from  which  I  had  never  had  boys  in  the  school ;  and  the 
boys  themselves  fairly  shouted  for  joy.  This  time  they 
wanted  me  to  take  all  the  boys  in  the  town.  I  held  a 
service  and  then  started  back  to  the  river  taking  nine 
boys  from  Nkol  Amvam. 

I  reached  Fula  at  noon,  just  in  time  to  prevent  a 
quarrel  between  my  crew  and  the  two  soldiers  who  were 
in  charge  of  the  government  post.  These  natives  of 
Senegal,  although  they  know  French,  and  many  of  them 
have  some  education,  are  still  savages  ;  and  it  is  a  pity 
that  they  should  ever  be  armed  and  left  among  a  people 
who  are  foreign  to  them  without  the  supervening  au- 
thority of  a  white  man.  They  are  cruel  and  bestial. 
These  two  men  were  a  terror  to  all  the  husbands  in  the 
surrounding  towns.  This  day  they  had  come  into  the 
town,  and  seeing  two  of  my  men,  Ndong  Koni  and  Toko, 
who  were  chatting  freely  with  the  people  and  naturally 
attracting  a  good  deal  of  attention,  they  thought  they 
would  let  the  townspeople  see  that  they  were  the 
superiors  of  these  coastmen.  To  their  insolence  my  men 
responded  with  contempt,  and  the  quarrel  had  gone 
about  as  far  as  mere  words  could  go  when  I  arrived.  I 
soon  settled  that  palaver  and  we  hurried  on  board,  and 
started  down  the  river. 


SCHOOLBOYS  193 

We  had  great  difficulty  in  turning  the  launch.  The 
current  was  exceedingly  swift,  a  roaring  torrent,  and  the 
channel  narrow  and  dangerous.  As  we  began  to  turn, 
the  bow  necessarily  came  close  to  the  bank  into  slack 
water,  while  the  stern  was  in  the  strong  middle-current. 
And  before  we  could  get  sufficient  way  on  her  the  stern 
would  be  carried  down  leaving  her  bow  still  up-stream 
and  headed  for  the  bank.  Twice  we  had  to  drop  the 
anchor.  Then  we  threw  out  a  line  from  the  stern  and 
passed  it  around  a  tree,  and  weighing  the  anchor  let  the 
bow  turn  with  the  current.  We  were  soon  rushing  down 
the  river  through  rapids  and  whirlpools,  and  swirling 
currents.  We  called  at  one  or  two  towns  on  the  way, 
and  reached  Augom  about  three  o'clock,  where  I  had 
work  for  the  rest  of  the  day.  It  was  a  great  relief  to  get 
back  into  the  well-known  channel  of  the  broad  deep  river 
that  ''flows  unvexed  to  the  sea." 

On  the  way  up  the  river  the  preceding  day,  we  had 
stopped  at  a  town  where  one  of  my  former  schoolboys, 
jNgema,  whose  father  refused  to  let  him  come  again,  said 
that  he  would  like  to  go  up  the  river  with  me  to  the 
towns  beyond,  expecting  to  stop  on  the  way  back.  I 
told  him  that  I  could  not  stop  at  his  town  coming  down  ; 
so  he  took  a  small  canoe  in  tow.  Next  day,  when  we 
made  our  last  stop  before  passing  his  town,  he  got  into 
the  canoe  and  was  towed  behind  us  ;  but  when  he  was 
near  home  he  suddenly  scrambled  upon  the  launch  and 
as  we  passed  by  he  cut  the  tow-line  and  called  out  to  the 
people  to  send  some  one  after  the  canoe,  that  he  was  go- 
ing back  to  school  with  me.  I  of  course  consented  to  his 
coming,  for  he  had  already  been  in  my  school  two  terms 
and  I  had  a  claim  on  him.  I  was  delighted  with  the 
plan  and  greatly  enjoyed  carrying  him  swiftly  past  his 
town  while  a  concourse  of  his  scandalized  parents  stood 
on  the  bank  executing  fantastic  gestures  of  remonstrance ; 


194     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

for,  standing  beside  the  engine,  I  could  not  hear  their 
words.  I  waved  back  at  them  pleasantly  as  we  swept 
around  a  curve  out  of  their  sight. 

Later  in  the  day,  when  we  were  at  Angom,  Ngema 
came  to  me  with  a  peculiar  expression  that  combined 
amusement  and  annoyance,  with  his  head  inclined  to  one 
side  as  if  he  were  too  weak  to  hold  it  up,  being  quite 
overcome  by  some  piece  of  intelligence.  He  said,  "Mr. 
Milligan,  father  has  come."  At  the  same  time  a  loud 
noise,  increasing  as  it  approached,  confirmed  the  news. 
But  I  was  not  alarmed,  as  I  had  the  man  at  a  disadvan- 
tage, away  from  his  own  town.  Supposing  that  we  might 
stop  at  Angom,  he  had  followed  us  in  a  canoe.  The  boy 
kept  close  to  me,  while  I  went  on  with  my  work,  not 
paying  much  attention  to  the  father's  loud  remonstrance, 
but  occasionally  jesting  with  him  on  the  score  of  the 
boy's  success  in  getting  away  from  his  town.  The 
African  likes  to  be  teased  ;  it  is  the  consummate  ex- 
pression of  brotherly  love.  In  the  evening  when  I  was 
about  to  start  for  the  coast  I  went  to  him  and  said  : 
"  Now  don't  you  think  you  have  cursed  me  enough  for 
this  trip  T  Can't  we  be  friends  before  I  go  ?  " 

Looking  somewhat  abashed,  but  no  longer  unfriendly, 
he  replied  quietly  :  "A  bar  of  soap  would  settle  the 
palaver." 

The  African  savage  is  more  than  "half  child."  I 
was  sure  that  when  I  would  take  these  boys  back  to  their 
towns,  no  matter  what  might  have  been  the  circumstances 
under  which  I  obtained  them,  their  parents  would  be  the 
best  friends  I  had  in  the  town. 

That  evening  I  started  down  the  river  with  the 
Evangeline  in  tow,  which  had  been  at  Angom  while  we 
were  up  the  river.  I  made  two  short  stops  to  take  on 
more  boys.  An  entertaining  episode  occurred  at  one  of 
these  places.  Eight  boys,  seeing  the  Dorothy  coming 


SCHOOLBOYS  195 

down  the  river,  came  out  in  a  large  canoe,  some  of  them 
expecting  to  go  with  me  to  Baraka.  They  had  not  the 
least  idea  of  the  speed  or  the  momentum  of  the  Dorothy, 
and  they  ran  straight  across  her  bow.  It  was  an  excit- 
ing moment  when  the  river  suddenly  closed  over  a  canoe 
and  eight  boys  and  a  terrific  yell.  I  scarcely  knew  which 
of  the  submerged  elements  formed  the  largest  bubbles  on 
the  surface.  But  they  all  came  up — boys,  canoe,  and 
yell — and  we  secured  them. 

I  had  in  all  fifty-one  persons  on  board  the  Dorothy  and 
the  Evangeline.  I  ran  all  that  night  and  reached  Baraka 
in  the  early  morning.  But  I  must  tell  the  story  of  that 
night ;  for  we  encountered  a  tornado  on  the  way. 

I  usually  left  Gaboon  in  the  morning  so  as  to  have  the 
first  thirty  miles  of  the  journey  past  and  get  into  the 
river  before  the  sea  breeze  became  strong.  In  returning 
it  was  not  so  easy  to  choose  the  time  for  this  part  of  the 
journey  ;  and  I  sometimes  encountered  a  rough  sea.  On 
this  occasion  I  had  intended  to  anchor  over  night  at  a 
point  sixty  miles  from  Gaboon  and  finish  the  journey  in 
the  early  hours  of  the  next  day.  But  I  felt  the  strain  of 
responsibility  for  this  big  human  cargo  and  I  was  anxious 
to  reach  home.  Sleep  would  be  impossible  for  me  in  the 
crowded  launch.  When  I  considered  also  that  the  sea 
is  usually  more  quiet  at  night,  I  decided  to  go  on  the 
remaining  sixty  miles  to  Gaboon.  The  moon  and  the 
stars  were  shining  brightly  above  us,  and  almost  as 
brightly  in  the  depths  of  the  swift,  silent  river.  When 
we  reached  the  sea  it  was  as  smooth  as  satin,  and  it  con- 
tinued so  for  a  few  hours.  The  air  was  so  still  that  at 
length  the  stillness  became  ominous,  and  I  began  to  fear 
that  it  was  the  calm  that  precedes  a  storm. 

A  black  cloud  loomed  up  from  the  horizon  which  we 
recognized  as  the  signal  of  the  tornado.  As  usual  there 
seemed  to  be  two  skies,  the  one  revolving  within  the 


other,  in  opposite  directions.  But  the  black  cloud 
hurried  towards  the  zenith,  spreading  abroad,  until  in 
the  course  of  a  few  minutes  it  covered  the  entire  sky, 
blotting  out  every  star.  We  hastily  closed  all  the  win- 
dows and  shutters  and  carried  down  some  of  the  stuff 
from  the  top  of  the  launch ;  but  there  was  not  time  to 
save  all.  The  darkness  above  and  around  us  seemed 
palpable  like  smoke,  and  beneath  us  the  sea  was  like 
ink.  There  was  not  a  light  on  sea  or  land  to  guide  us 
and  of  course  we  could  not  see  the  shore-line,  which  we 
had  always  followed  instead  of  steering  by  the  compass. 
We  could  only  take  the  soundings  and  keep  out  in  deep 
water.  I  do  not  want  to  frighten  my  readers  as  I  was 
frightened  that  night ;  so  I  hasten  to  say  that  nothing 
came  of  it  except  the  fright.  But,  having  the  sole  re- 
sponsibility for  the  lives  of  those  fifty  persons,  the  strain 
was  great  and  I  could  have  taken  Jonah's  place  and  have 
been  flung  overboard  for  the  safety  of  the  rest.  We 
moderns  are  more  practical,  however,  and  I  took  the 
soundings,  myself  heaving  the  lead.  In  such  a  moment 
I  could  not  trust  a  native  to  do  it — except  Ndong  Koni, 
and  he  was  at  the  wheel.  For  the  native  is  accustomed 
to  the  canoe,  and  in  a  storm  his  instinct  would  be  to  go 
to  the  shore.  In  a  moment  of  peril  he  would  be  not  un- 
likely to  follow  his  own  instinct  instead  of  my  orders. 

Suddenly  the  wind  came ;  the  tempest  was  unchained. 
We  first  heard  its  roar  in  the  distance  ;  and  in  a  moment 
the  tornado  was  on.  I  fairly  lost  my  breath  at  the  first 
swoop  of  it.  The  launch  quivered  and  trembled  like  a 
frightened  horse.  Once  or  twice  she  swayed  so  far  over 
that  the  small  boys  screamed,  and  then  realizing  that 
this  was  a  life-and-death  struggle,  and  that  it  depended 
entirely  upon  her,  she  braced  herself  for  the  battle. 
The  poor  Dorothy !  Like  some  of  her  fellow  missionaries 
she  was  overworked.  Intended  only  for  inland  waters, 


SCHOOLBOYS  197 

she  was  not  only  greatly  overloaded,  but  also  required  to 
fight  her  way  through  a  tropical  tornado  on  a  wide  sea. 
We  gave  her  half  speed  and  steered  right  into  the  storm. 
The  first  blast  carried  away  all  that  was  on  top  of  the 
launch.  The  wind  raged  fiercer  and  louder ;  but  the 
Dorothy  somehow  held  right  on.  Fortunately  she  had  to 
contend  only  with  the  wind ;  and  not  with  wind  and 
wave,  for  the  sea  was  not  yet  rough.  At  last  the  wel- 
come rain  came,  falling  as  it  falls  only  in  the  tropics. 
Soon  afterwards  the  wind  died  down,  but  the  rain  con- 
tinued to  fall  for  hours,  and  it  seemed  ice  cold. 

Through  all  that  storm,  when  the  Dorothy  was  toiling 
in  the  sea,  and  afterwards  through  the  rain,  for  more 
than  two  hours,  I  stood  outside  on  the  small  forward 
deck  throwing  the  heavy  lead  without  stopping,  and 
directing  the  man  at  the  wheel.  As  we  anchored  the 
day  was  breaking,  which  made  twenty-four  hours  of 
continuous  work.  But  all  the  following  day,  whether 
at  work  or  rest,  I  was  thinking  of  the  long  overdue 
furlough. 


xn 

A  SCHOOL 

I  SAID  that  Mendam  had  the  best  laugh  in  the  school ; 
and  a  good  heart  went  with  it.  A  much  younger 
boy,  Mba,  came  from  a  town  near  where  Mendam 
lived.  But  they  were  not  of  the  same  clan.  Both  boys 
were  from  towns  far  up  the  river  and  neither  of  them  had 
ever  seen  the  sea  until  they  came  to  my  school.  Like  all 
interior  people  they  thought  that  the  whole  world  was 
one  great  "bush."  Mba  was  shy  and  sensitive  and 
Mendam  became  a  big  brother  to  him  through  the  school 
year.  I  think  the  Big  Brother  idea,  now  popular  in 
America,  must  have  come  from  Africa.  The  two  boys 
became  devotedly  attached  to  each  other.  Mendam 
helped  Mba  with  his  lessons ;  helped  him  also  to  take  the 
jiggers  out  of  his  feet. 

One  day  just  before  dinner  several  boys  were  down  in 
the  gully  behind  the  school  when  they  suddenly  came 
upon  a  python.  They  announced  it  with  a  shout  that 
brought  the  entire  school  stampeding  down  the  hill. 
Mba  had  his  whole  dinner  of  rice  and  smoked  fish  on  his 
plate  at  the  moment  when  he  heard  the  shout.  He  ran 
with  it  in  his  hand  until  he  came  to  the  path  leading 
down  into  the  gully,  and  then,  naturally,  he  set  the  plate 
down  in  the  path  while  he  hurried  on.  But  how  was 
Obiang  to  know  that  Mba's  dinner  was  right  in  the 
middle  of  the  path  when  he  came  tearing  down  the  hill 
to  kill  the  python  ?  Obiang  planted  his  foot  fair  on  the 
plate,  leaving  a  large  track  and  not  much  else.  Mba, 
after  a  vain  hunt  for  the  python,  came  back  to  enjoy  his 
dinner.  I  hope  we  shall  never  get  so  old  that  we  cannot 

198 


A  SCHOOL  199 

sympathize  with  the  pangs  of  a  hungry  boy.  Mba  was 
as  inconsolable  as  the  mother  bird  whose  "brood  is 
stol'n  away."  But  it  only  lasted  till  Mendarn  arrived. 

"  Never  mind,  Mba,"  he  said,  "I'll  give  you  half  of 
my  dinner.  I'll  give  you  more  than  half."  That  was 
some  sacrifice  for  a  healthy,  hungry  boy  who  was  much 
bigger  than  Mba. 

But  the  tragedy  of  life  begins  early  in  Africa.  One 
day  the  news  came  that  war  had  broken  out  between 
neighbouring  towns  up  the  river  and  that  Mba's  father 
had  killed  Mendam's  father. 

It  was  a  bitter  grief  for  both  boys,  and  a  hard  struggle 
on  the  part  of  Mendani ;  for  the  blood  of  countless  gener- 
ations in  his  veins  cried  vengeance.  By  all  the  codes 
and  customs  that  ever  he  had  heard  of  before  he  came  to 
school  he  should  have  hated  Mba  with  a  hatred  that 
would  last  for  life.  It  was  a  hard  struggle  ;  but  if  the 
Christian  faith  in  him  had  not  triumphed — if  the  friend- 
ship of  the  two  boys  had  been  broken — I  don't  think  I 
would  have  told  the  story. 

Many  friendships  were  formed  in  the  school  which  in 
after  years  would  surely  become  a  power  for  the  pre- 
vention of  war  and  the  shedding  of  blood.  Boys  of 
neighbouring  clans,  mutually  hostile,  clans  between  which 
there  were  old  feuds  ;  clans  which  are  bred  in  the  belief 
that  it  is  a  virtue  to  hate  each  other — in  that  schoolboys 
of  such  clans  found  themselves  side  by  side  ;  and  in  the 
social  alignments  of  the  school  these  very  boys  were 
drawn  together  by  the  fact  that,  coming  from  neighbour- 
ing communities,  they  had  much  in  common.  These 
school  friendships  were  exceedingly  strong ;  for  the 
African's  affections  are  his  substitute  for  moral  prin- 
ciples. It  is  impossible  that  such  boys  should  afterwards 
contract  the  mutual  hate  of  their  fathers,  or  without  com- 
punction shed  each  other's  blood. 


200     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

Many  of  the  boys  when  they  came  to  Baraka  had  only 
the  smallest  rag  of  clothing  and  some  had  none.  I  got 
just  boys — nothing  more.  I  had  their  clothes  made  and 
ready  for  them  before  the  school  opened.  The  dress 
which  a  fellow  missionary  devised  for  them  was  a  ging- 
ham shirt  with  a  yoke,  and  loose  sleeves  to  the  elbow, 
and  the  usual  cotton  robe  (a  cloth  they  call  it)  of  bright 
colours  bound  with  red  or  white,  fastened  around  the 
waist  and  falling  below  the  knees.  They  wore  only  the 
cloth  in  the  schoolroom,  the  shirts  being  kept  for  parade. 
I  disliked  to  see  trousers  on  the  natives,  with  a  few  ex- 
ceptions of  those  who  were  perfectly  civilized  in  mind 
and  manners  and  somewhat  cultivated  in  taste.  It  im- 
mediately and  unconsciously  introduced  a  standard  of 
dress  and  taste  to  which  they  could  not  measure  up  ;  a 
standard  entirely  different  from  that  which  was  appli- 
cable to  a  primitive  people  in  conditions  of  simplicity 
and  freedom.  Moreover,  the  natives,  both  men  and 
women,  as  well  as  children,  look  by  far  the  best  in  bright 
colours,  not  admissible  in  our  style  of  clothing.  They  do 
not  look  well  in  white  ;  and  in  black  they  are  ugly.  But 
red,  yellow,  blue,  orange,  purple,  green — any  of  these 
colours,  or  all  of  them,  are  becoming  and  appropriate  to 
their  climate. 

The  day's  program  for  this  school  of  seventy-five  boys 
was  as  follows :  At  5  : 45  A.  M.  the  rising  bell  rang  and 
at  6  : 15  I  met  the  boys  in  the  schoolroom  for  prayers, 
after  which  they  had  breakfast.  From  seven  o'clock  until 
nine  they  cut  grass  and  did  other  necessary  work  in  the 
yard.  In  the  proper  season  they  picked  the  oranges  and 
gathered  them.  From  nine  o'clock  until  half -past  three 
they  were  in  school,  with  a  recess  of  half  an  hour  in  the 
morning  for  taking  jiggers  out  of  their  feet,  and  an  hour 
at  noon  for  dinner.  At  half-past  three  the  dispensary 
was  opened  for  the  sick  and  ailing.  From  four  o'clock 


A  SCHOOL  201 

till  five  they  worked  again  in  the  yard,  and  at  five  they 
all  took  a  bath  in  the  sea.  On  Saturday  morning  the 
program  was  the  same  until  ten  o'  clock.  Then  a  small 
piece  of  soap  was  given  to  each  boy  and  they  all  washed 
their  clothing  in  a  stream  that  passed  near  their  house. 
Extravagance  always  goes  with  improvidence,  and  both 
are  prominent  characteristics  of  the  African.  But  in 
nothing  else  is  their  extravagance  more  flagrant  than  in 
their  use  of  soap,  although  they  are  so  eager  for  it  and 
have  so  little  of  it. 

The  cutting  of  grass  is  a  constant  labour.  There  is  no 
such  thing  as  a  lawn  ;  the  grass  is  very  coarse  and  rank, 
and  does  not  form  a  sod.  There  is  every  condition  of 
growth — good  soil,  heat  and  moisture  ;  and  the  rapid 
growth  of  vegetation  is  astonishing.  Here  and  there  on 
the  mission  premises  were  large  beds  of  the  strange 
sensitive-plant,  which  at  the  least  disturbance  folds  its 
petals  together  face  to  face.  Before  one,  as  he  walks 
through  it,  its  beautiful  foliage  is  spread  like  a  heavy 
green  carpet,  while  behind  him  is  nothing  but  scraggy, 
wilted  vines  and  no  foliage  at  all.  But  in  a  few  minutes 
it  opens  again. 

The  Africans  use  a  short,  straight  cutlass  for  cutting 
grass,  which  requires  that  they  stoop  to  the  ground. 
Even  at  the  best,  it  is  very  slow  work.  I,  like  others  be- 
fore me,  imported  a  scythe,  and  showed  several  of  the 
workmen  how  to  use  it.  But  they  did  not  take  to  it. 
As  soon  as  I  disappeared  it  was  put  carefully  away  for 
my  own  use. 

Besides  the  cutting  of  grass,  there  were  roads  to  keep 
in  repair,  cargo  to  land,  or  carry  from  the  beach  to  the 
storeroom,  and  much  other  work.  The  work  of  the  boys 
saved  the  necessity  of  hiring  a  number  of  men  ;  and  so 
the  boys  paid  a  large  part  of  the  expense  of  keeping 
them.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  maintenance  of  each  boy 


202     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

(his  food  and  clothing)  cost  six  or  sometimes  seven  dollars 
for  an  entire  year. 

It  required  a  vast  expenditure  of  energy  and  continual 
oversight  to  get  seventy-five  boys  to  go  to  work  promptly 
and  to  work  well.  They  were  just  at  the  age  when  total 
depravity  takes  the  concrete  form  of  laziness ;  but  they 
were  not  more  lazy  than  so  many  white  boys. 

One  day  when  they  were  cutting  the  very  long  grass  in 
the  back  of  the  garden,  there  was  a  sudden  cry,  "  Mvom ! " 
(python).  Lying  in  the  grass  was  a  monster  python 
with  several  coils  around  a  dog  which  it  was  preparing 
to  swallow.  It  was  a  dog  that  we  all  knew,  the  only  one 
of  a  respectable  size  in  the  community.  Being  pre- 
occupied with  the  dog,  and  partly  hidden  in  the  grass, 
it  did  not  seem  to  pay  any  attention  to  the  boys.  About 
twenty -five  of  them  remained  to  watch  it  while  fifty  came 
to  call  me.  Baraka  was  well  provided  with  various  fire- 
arms, but  there  was  not  a  single  piece  that  would  actually 
shoot.  As  a  rule  the  appearance  was  all  that  was  really 
necessary.  But  in  a  real  emergency  this  left  something 
to  be  desired.  Finding  myself  without  a  weapon  I  went 
to  the  garden  and  looked  at  the  monster  snake,  and  when 
I  saw  that  it  did  not  seem  disposed  to  leave  so  fine  a 
supper  I  cautioned  the  boys  to  keep  away  from  it  while 
I  ran  to  an  English  trading-house — Hatton  &  Crokson's — 
in  search  of  a  weapon.  The  traders  were  as  defenseless 
as  the  mission.  The  manager,  however,  recalled  that 
there  was  in  his  possession  a  pistol,  a  precious  affair, 
belonging  to  the  firm.  I  waited  exactly  half  an  hour 
while  he  put  it  "in  perfect  condition,"  and  loaded  it.  I 
kept  on  waiting  while  he  stood  with  it  in  his  hand  telling 
me  what  a  fine  weapon  it  was,  instructing  me  in  its  use, 
and  especially  requesting  that  I  should  bring  it  back  my- 
self and  not  entrust  it  to  a  native  for  reasons  which  he 
fully  explained.  I  then  returned  to  the  mission  wonder- 


A  SCHOOL  203 

ing  whether  the  python  might  not  take  a  fancy  to  some- 
thing more  delicate  than  a  poor  dog,  and  how  many  boys 
a  python  would  hold.  But  it  was  still  coiled  about  the 
dog  not  having  finished  crunching  his  bones.  I  crept 
very  close,  took  deadly  aim  and  fired.  Deafening  silence  ! 
The  pistol  did  not  go  off.  Again  I  pulled  the  trigger, 
with  the  same  result,  and  again,  and  again.  I  withdrew 
in  disgust.  It  was  the  only  big  game  that  I  had  ever 
attempted  to  shoot ;  and  I  had  already  considered  what 
I  would  do  with  the  skin. 

The  older  boys  and  several  men  who  were  present  had 
been  eager  all  the  while  to  attack  it  with  their  cutlasses ; 
and  I  now  gave  them  permission.  They  formed  in  line. 
One  man  was  to  strike  first,  back  of  the  head,  and  all  the 
rest  instantly  to  follow.  It  had  lain  quiet  so  long  and 
was  so  very  sluggish  that  one  could  hardly  conceive  that 
it  was  alert ;  but  at  the  first  stroke,  before  the  other  cut- 
lasses fell,  it  had  gone  like  a  flash.  We  could  only  guess 
at  its  size  ;  but  I  have  vowed  never  to  record  my  guess. 
Pythons  have  been  actually  measured  in  Gaboon  at  thirty 
feet. 

One  day  the  schoolboys  killed  a  very  young  one  twelve 
feet  long,  and  immediately  returned  to  search  for  the 
parents  ;  for  they  said  that  a  mere  baby  python  like  this 
would  not  yet  have  left  its  parents'  care  to  shift  for 
itself.  The  next  day  after  this  several  of  the  smaller 
boys  were  taken  sick  and  I  was  called  to  the  dormitory 
to  see  them.  My  immediate  diagnosis  was  python,  and  I 
found  that  I  was  right.  But  none  of  the  boys  who  had 
been  in  the  school  for  more  than  one  term  joined  in  the 
feast ;  and  some  of  them  would  no  more  have  eaten  it 
than  I  would. 

The  regular  food  of  the  boys  was  cassava  and  dried 
fish.  Plantains  were  sometimes  substituted  for  cassava. 
If  we  were  out  of  fish  I  gave  them  sardines — one  sardine 


204:     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

to  each  boy  as  his  allowance  of  meat  for  a  whole  day ;  I 
believe  that  no  devout  contributor  to  missions  will  charge 
me  with  extravagance.  If  I  had  neither  fish  nor  sardines 
I  gave  them  coconuts.  The  meat  of  a  very  ripe  coco- 
nut is  full  of  a  strong  oil  and  the  natives  like  it.  A 
boy's  food  costs  less  than  a  cent  a  meal. 

The  food  for  an  entire  day  was  given  out  at  noon. 
They  cooked  their  fish  all  together  in  a  large  kettle. 
During  the  entire  year  there  was  never  a  quarrel  over 
the  division  of  their  food.  I  provided  knives  and  forks 
and  a  beautiful  service  of  tin  plates  and  spoons,  all  of 
which  was  new  to  them  as  well  as  eating  off  a  table — in 
this  instance  a  broad  shelf  around  the  outside  of  the 
house  covered  by  the  projecting  eaves.  The  only  plates 
that  they  had  ever  known  were  leaves ;  so  they  called 
the  plates  leaves,  and  had  no  other  name  for  them.  But 
I  was  rather  puzzled  the  first  time  a  boy  came  and  asked 
me  for  a  " leaf" — "a  white  man's  leaf." 

The  schoolhouse  was  an  old  discarded  residence,  which 
had  been  used  by  native  ministers  and  others  connected 
with  the  mission.  It  had  been  good  in  its  day,  and  it 
had  a  board  floor  ;  but  it  was  now  in  an  advanced  stage  of 
decay.  It  was  divided  into  two  rooms.  One  day  I  was 
in  the  smaller  room  teaching  a  class  of  fifteen  little  boys 
seated  on  three  long  benches  when  suddenly  the  floor 
gave  way  and  the  whole  class  fell  through.  White  ants 
were  probably  responsible  for  the  collapse.  The  floor 
was  elevated  on  posts  and  the  ground  was  several  feet  be- 
low. One  side  of  the  room  went  down  before  the  other, 
declining  the  benches  so  that  the  boys  slid  to  the  lower 
end  and  fell  off  all  in  a  heap.  They  got  up  after  a  while 
and  having  crawled  out  they  went  around  the  school- 
house  and  marched  in  at  the  front  door.  Nduna,  who 
was  teaching  a  class,  being  surprised  at  their  entrance, 
said  :  "  I  thought  you  boys  were  in  this  other  room." 


A  SCHOOL  205 

Esona,  the  wittiest  boy  in  the  school,  replied :  "  We 
thought  so  too  but  we  were  mistaken." 

The  dormitory  was  a  long,  low  building  with  earth 
floor,  walls  of  bamboo  and  roof  of  palm  thatch.  The 
teacher  lived  in  one  end  of  it,  in  a  large  room  separated 
by  a  partition.  The  bed  was  a  bunk  five  feet  wide 
which  ran  around  the  walls  of  the  whole  interior.  This 
bunk  was  a  simple  device  of  my  own.  I  made  it  with 
the  assistance  of  a  native  carpenter  out  of  boxes,  of 
which  there  was  always  a  great  pile  on  hand,  in  which 
shipments  of  goods  had  been  received.  The  bare  boards 
with  nothing  else  would  have  been  by  far  the  best  beds 
that  the  boys  from  the  interior  and  many  of  the  others 
had  ever  slept  upon.  But  there  were  rolls  of  discarded 
matting  in  the  storeroom  which  had  been  accumulating 
for  a  generation.  I  had  this  washed,  and  spread  on  the 
beds,  and  even  doubled,  which  made  them  positively 
luxurious.  Their  house  was  kept  as  clean  as  such  a 
house  could  be  kept.  They  did  their  cooking  outside 
under  a  roof  without  walls,  and  the  house  was  very  little 
used  except  for  sleeping. 

This  all  may  seem  very  simple — ludicrously  simple. 
But  the  simple  life  is  a  popular  vogue  in  these  days,  at 
least  in  theory  ;  and  we  were  only  practicing  what  others 
preached.  For  those  boys  it  was  such  a  change  as  can- 
not easily  be  imagined.  They  were  taught  habits  of 
order  and  cleanliness,  self-respect  and  consideration  for 
others,  to  work  and  to  think,  all  that  is  essential  to 
civilization,  and  the  great  religious  truths  which  are  its 
foundation  and  which  centre  in  the  cross  of  Christ. 
Even  if  they  do  not  become  professed  followers  of  Christ 
they  are  far  removed  from  their  former  life.  That  life 
and  its  surroundings  will  never  be  the  same  to  them,  and 
will  never  again  satisfy  them. 

Parents  were  more  willing  to  give  me  sick  children 


than  any  others,  because  these  were  of  little  or  no  use 
at  home,  and  they  soon  learned  that  those  who  went 
away  sick  were  more  than  likely  to  return  well. 

Each  day  after  school  hours  I  opened  the  dispensary. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  term  there  were  usually  twenty 
or  thirty  boys  who  were  treated  daily.  None  of  them,  of 
course,  were  very  serious  cases.  Most  of  them  had  itch, 
all  of  them  had  worms,  many  had  ulcers,  and  there  were 
a  few  fevers  and  a  few  fits.  In  my  last  year  in  Africa  a 
fellow  missionary  relieved  me  of  most  of  this  medical 
work.  Some  of  the  ulcers  were  dreadful,  for  the  blood 
of  many  of  these  children,  especially  those  who  live  near 
the  coast,  is  so  tainted  with  venereal  disease  that  a  small 
cut  or  scratch  is  liable  to  become  an  ugly  sore,  and  such 
wounds  are  rarely  cleansed.  Long  before  the  close  of 
the  term,  however,  they  were  nearly  all  well  and  their 
bodies  clean  and  smooth. 

In  a  former  chapter  I  have  told  at  some  length  of  the 
scourge  of  the  jigger,  and  how  the  discipline  of  the  school 
was  concentrated  in  an  effort  to  make  the  boys  keep  them 
out  of  their  feet.  A  boy  who  had  jiggers  got  no  food 
until  his  feet  were  clean.  It  was  hard  discipline,  but  it 
would  have  been  cruel  to  have  done  otherwise.  The 
whole  of  the  morning  recess  was  spent  in  examining 
their  feet.  Without  exception  the  boys  who  had  been 
long  in  the  school  kept  themselves  perfectly  clean  from 
jiggers,  and  they  in  turn  were  willing  to  examine  the 
other  boys'  feet  and  report  to  me.  It  was  a  measure  of 
self-protection  ;  for  one  boy  whose  feet  were  full  of  jiggers 
would  scatter  thousands  of  them.  Sometimes  in  the  dry 
season,  when  they  are  worst,  I  had  the  boys  haul  barrels 
of  salt  water  from  the  sea  and  flood  the  house  with  it. 

The  program  of  daily  studies  covered  the  subjects 
usually  taught  in  primary  schools,  besides  French  and 
the  Bible.  With  the  help  of  a  missionary  friend  I 


A  SCHOOL  207 

translated  into  Fang  a  simple  catechism  of  fifty  questions 
and  answers  and  a  number  of  hymns.  They  committed 
to  memory  both  catechism  and  hymns.  These  they 
invariably  taught  in  their  towns  upon  their  return  home. 
Some  few  of  the  boys  are  very  bright  in  all  their  studies 
and  learn  fast — as  fast  as  American  boys ;  others  are 
stupid  in  everything — as  stupid  as  some  American  boys. 
The  average  African  schoolboy,  however,  is  not  as  clever 
as  the  average  American  boy.  In  the  acquisition  of  a 
foreign  language  the  African  boy  far  surpasses  the 
American.  Yet  this  is  not  now  regarded  as  a  high 
order  of  faculty.  It  rather  belongs  to  the  elementary 
mind  and  the  highly  civilized  nations  tend  to  lose  it. 

I  have  never  known  an  American  school  in  which 
there  was  better  order  and  so  little  exercise  of  discipline 
as  in  my  African  school.  There  was  no  flogging  at  all. 
The  entire  matter  of  discipline  was  confined  to  the  jigger- 
palaver.  Yet  these  boys  were  not  by  any  means  dull  or 
lacking  in  humour.  Indeed,  the  humour  of  the  Negro  is 
far  more  keen  than  that  of  any  Asiatic  race,  and  is  nearest 
to  our  own. 

But  even  in  the  best-ordered  schools  there  will  be  an 
occasional  lapse  of  discipline,  and  my  school  was  no  ex- 
ception. One  day  in  the  class  I  called  on  a  certain  boy, 
Toma,  to  read.  A  knife  had  been  stolen  from  my  room 
that  morning — probably  by  a  workman — and  the  boys 
had  been  talking  about  it  and  wondering  if  any  of  their 
number  could  have  done  it.  Toma  was  one  of  the  larger 
boys  and  was  dull  at  his  books.  Moreover,  he  was  con- 
scious of  being  backward  and  was  easily  embarrassed 
when  he  was  reciting.  This  day  as  he  rose  to  recite,  a 
certain  smart  boy,  Esona,  whom  I  have  already  men- 
tioned, said  in  a  loud  whisper  :  "  Now,  if  anybody  can't 
recite  his  lesson  that  will  be  a  sign  that  he  has  stolen  Mr. 
Milligan's  knife." 


208    THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

The  effect  of  the  remark  on  Toma — as  Esona  expected 
and  intended — was  that  it  embarrassed  him  and  made  it 
impossible  for  him  to  recite.  He  stumbled  on  from  bad 
to  worse,  to  the  ill-concealed  amusement  of  the  class,  until 
at  last  he  came  to  a  dead  stop,  paused  for  a  moment,  and 
then  suddenly  turned  and  flung  his  book  across  the  room 
at  Esoua's  head.  It  was  well  aimed,  and  it  hit.  Toma 
evidently  knew  some  things  about  books  that  Esona  had 
never  thought  of. 

In  singing  they  excelled.  I  am  sure  that  only  a  choir 
of  well-trained  American  boys  could  sing  as  well  as  those 
boys  of  my  school.  They  soon  acquired  a  reputation  on 
the  coast,  and  visitors,  from  passing  steamers,  having 
heard  of  them  from  the  captains  and  others,  asked  to  hear 
them  sing  ;  and  I  do  not  think  that  they  were  ever  disap- 
pointed. There  was  a  quartette  of  boys  who  sang  beauti- 
fully. I  made  some  phonograph  records  of  their  singing, 
but  after  bringing  them  all  the  way  to  New  York  in  safety, 
where  I  used  them  a  few  times,  they  got  broken  between 
New  York  and  Chicago. 

The  hymn,  if  well  used,  is  the  form  in  which  the  Chris- 
tian religion  will  reach  more  people  than  can  be  reached 
by  any  other  means.  "When  these  boys  returned  to  their 
towns  the  people  old  and  young  were  eager  to  learn  the 
hymns,  and  had  soon  committed  many  of  them  to  mem- 
ory. In  far-away  towns  that  no  white  man  had  ever  vis- 
ited before,  I  have  held  a  service,  and  when  I  started  a 
hymn  the  people  all  joined  heartily  in  singing.  He  Lead- 
efh  Me  was  the  favourite  of  all  the  hymns,  and  was  always 
the  first  one  that  they  learned. 

The  routine  of  the  day's  work  was  liable  to  various  in- 
terruptions. Sometimes  a  boy  was  enticed  by  his  rela- 
tions to  run  away  from  the  school.  I  always  followed, 
and  at  any  cost  brought  him  back,  for  fear  of  the  demor- 
alization of  the  school.  I  had  always  exacted  a  promise 


A  SCHOOL  209 

of  each  boy  when  I  received  him  that  he  would  stay  until 
the  end  of  the  term.  And  they  never  ran  away  except 
when  induced  to  do  so  by  people  of  their  town  whom  they 
happened  to  meet.  One  day  word  was  brought  to  me 
that  two  of  the  boys  had  run  away,  having  been  per- 
suaded to  do  so  by  a  relation  who  came  selling  food.  I 
set  out  in  hot  pursuit  with  several  attendants,  and  soon 
we  met  the  man  who  had  been  overheard  asking  the  boys 
to  go  with  him.  He  denied  all  knowledge  of  them,  but  I 
had  proof.  I  brought  him  to  Baraka,  bound  him  hands 
and  feet  and  said  that  he  would  be  released  as  soon  as  the 
boys  were  returned  to  me.  In  a  few  hours  the  boys 
arrived. 

There  were  other  interruptions.  For  instance,  while  I 
am  engaged  in  the  absorbing  task  of  unfolding  the  impli- 
cations of  monotheism  to  a  class  of  theological  students 
whom  I  am  preparing  for  the  work  of  catechists,  a  naked 
Fang  from  the  bush  stalks  into  the  room  unannounced 
and  says:  "  White  man,  what's  good  for  worms ?  I'm 
full  of  them." 

il  Santonine  and  castor  oil,"  roars  the  whole  class  in  con- 
cert, with  such  alacrity  and  assurance  that  I  wish  it  were 
one  of  the  implications  of  monotheism. 

"  Well,  I've  brought  two  eggs,"  says  the  Fang  ;  "  good 
eggs — both  of  them  laid  this  morning — and  I  want  some 
of  that  medicine." 

I  leave  the  class  and  first  spend  considerable  time  test- 
ing the  eggs.  One  of  them  is  probably  the  oldest  egg  in 
the  world.  I  complain  to  the  man,  and  he  tells  me  that 
he  took  his  wife's  word  for  its  being  laid  that  morning  ; 
but  that  he  might  have  known  better,  for  she  is  the  worst 
liar  that  ever  lived,  and  he — a  lover  of  truth — is  going  to 
send  her  home  to  her  father  and  demand  the  dowry  which 
he  paid  for  her.  And  if  it  be  refused  war  will  be  declared 
between  that  town  and  his  own. 


210     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFKICA 

I  advise  him  that  the  matter  of  the  egg  is  hardly  worth 
going  to  war  over.  The  other  egg  is  middling  good  ;  and 
I  give  him  the  medicine.  Then  I  resume  the  theological 
lecture. 

The  most  noticeable  feature  of  this  simple  life  is  its  be- 
wildering complexity.  There  is  no  mental  perspective. 
The  clamour  of  the  small  but  immediate  interest  con- 
stantly claims  the  attention,  as  a  mote  may  bolt  a  land- 
scape. Emerson's  observation,  that  Isaac  Newton  was 
as  great  while  engaged  in  tying  his  shoe-string  as  in  com- 
puting the  magnitude  of  the  fixed  stars,  was  comforting 
when  much  of  my  time  was  occupied  in  tying  shoe-strings. 
Yet,  after  all,  such  a  life  is  exactly  as  great,  or  as  petty,  as  a 
man  himself  makes  it.  The  shoe-string  is  the  equivalent 
of  a  cup  of  cold  water.  And  it  is  a  fact  that  these  small 
matters  afford  the  very  best  kind  of  opportunity  for  per- 
sonal contact  and  personal  influence  with  the  native. 

But  the  worst  annoyance  was  due  to  parents  coming  to 
visit  their  children.  Sometimes  half  a  dozen  men  and 
women  would  come  from  a  distant  town  to  visit  one  small 
boy,  all  of  them  claiming  the  parental  relation.  In  the 
first  place,  such  visitors  could  not  understand  why  the 
boys  should  not  be  kept  out  of  school  while  they  were  there. 
And  then  they  could  not  understand  why  they  should  not 
stay  over  night  or  several  nights,  at  my  expense,  and  sleep 
in  the  boys'  dormitory.  Each  of  these  matters  involved 
a  long  contention.  Then  they  could  not  understand  why 
their  boys  should  not  be  allowed  to  return  home  with 
them  and  spend  a  few  days.  Then  they  could  not  under- 
stand why  I  should  not  give  each  of  them  a  present  when 
they  were  about  to  take  their  leave.  Sometimes  the 
boys,  themselves,  who  had  been  happy  and  content,  be- 
came unsettled  and  wanted  to  go  home.  About  every 
second  or  third  day  such  visitors  were  announced.  Parents 
were  always  my  chief  trouble  in  Africa.  Even  in  fevered 


A  SCHOOL  211 

dreams  they  haunted  me.  At  first  these  contentious, 
which  usually  occurred  in  the  morning,  fairly  wore  me 
out  before  the  day's  work  was  well  begun,  but  I  after- 
wards learned  to  regard  them  as  inevitable  and  to  bear 
them  with  the  least  mental  expense  possible.  My  an- 
swers and  protests  became  stereotyped,  and  I  could  carry 
on  a  vigorous  contention  while  thinking  of  something 
else.  But  I  tried  hard  not  to  offend  these  people,  and 
somehow  we  always  parted  on  friendly  terms.  Within  a 
month  I  might  meet  them  in  some  distant  town,  and  an 
unkindly  reception  or  unkindly  report  would  defeat  the 
purpose  of  my  preaching. 

In  the  middle  of  the  term  I  had  a  picnic.  Taking  the 
Lafayette  or  the  Evangeline  in  tow  behind  the  Dorothy  we 
went  to  a  beach  twelve  miles  away  and  spent  the  day. 
"We  had  many  of  the  usual  picnic  sports.  But  nearly  all 
the  prizes  were  soap,  the  pieces  ranging  from  one  to  six 
inches.  Their  deficiency  in  real  sportsmanship  is  not 
surprising,  but  it  is  rather  amusing.  A  boy's  effort  to 
win  a  race  consisted  largely  in  attempting  to  disable  his 
competitors. 

They  showed  more  of  the  true  spirit  of  the  sportsman 
in  their  native  games  and  sports. 

They  are  fond  of  wrestling,  and  they  wrestle  fairly 
well.  There  is  a  game  in  which  two  sides  are  chosen,  and 
a  boy  of  the  first  side,  standing  opposite  a  boy  of  the  sec- 
ond side,  raises  his  arms  above  his  head — which  the  other 
boy  must  do  at  the  same  time — then  claps  his  hands  to- 
gether rapidly,  as  often  as  he  pleases,  at  length  suddenly 
thrusting  either  arm  in  front  of  him  as  if  striking  a  blow. 
The  other  boy  must  keep  with  him  as  nearly  as  possible, 
and  at  the  right  moment  thrust  out  the  corresponding  arm. 
A  certain  number  of  "  wins  "  makes  a  chief.  The  chief 
retires  honourably  from  the  game  and  becomes  a  spectator. 
This  game  is  a  training  both  for  mind  and  muscle. 


212     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

In  their  own  towns,  where  they  have  spears,  men  and 
boys  play  a  game  in  which  some  object,  perhaps  a  piece 
of  plantain  stock,  is  hurled  along  the  ground,  while  from 
either  side  they  throw  their  spears  at  it  and  try  to 
"wound"  it. 

They  have  an  interesting  variation  of  Side  and  Seek. 
One  of  their  number  is  sent  into  the  bush  to  hide.  In  his 
absence  some  one  "curses"  him.  Then  they  all  call  to 
him  and  vociferously  ask  him :  "  Which  of  us  cursed 
you?  Which  of  us  cursed  you?"  His  only  guide  is 
their  countenances,  which  he  studies.  If  he  names  the 
right  one,  then  the  latter  must  hide. 

They  have  a  "laugh"  game  in  which  a  boy,  standing 
before  his  fellows,  bids  them  laugh  and  tries  in  every 
legitimate  way  to  compel  them.  He  mimics  various  ani- 
mals, or  well-known  persons,  especially  persons  of  great 
dignity.  The  boy  who  laughs  exchanges  places  with  him 
and  in  turn  bids  his  fellows  laugh.  They  have  a  mock- 
ing song  which  they  sing  to  one  who  fails  to  make  any- 
body laugh.  This  is  a  good  training  for  oratory,  which 
occupies  a  large  and  important  place  in  all  Africa,  the 
land  of  the  palaver.  It  is  also  a  training  in  facial  control, 
in  which,  as  it  seems  to  me,  the  African  is  no  amateur. 

They  also  have  gambling  games  in  their  towns ;  but  I 
do  not  know  that  habitual  gambling  is  common. 

Some  of  the  games  of  the  schoolboys,  like  some  of 
their  stories  and  fables,  may  have  been  borrowed  from 
adjacent  tribes.  For  the  Fang,  whom  I  know  best,  are 
in  contact  with  other  tribes  south  of  them  and  also  with 
the  people  of  Gaboon,  where  many  tribes  intermingle. 

The  boys  were  very  fond  of  dancing,  in  which  they 
often  indulged  in  the  cool  evening  after  supper.  African 
dances  are  not  in  the  least  degree  effeminate ;  and  they 
have  nothing  like  our  round  dances.  Their  dancing  is 
as  vigorous  and  masculine  as  their  wrestling,  and  as  a 


A  SCHOOL  213 

gymnastic  exercise  is  far  better  than  wrestling.  They 
dance  with  the  whole  body,  keeping  time  with  the  feet, 
while  they  wag  the  head,  sway  the  shoulders,  rotate  the 
thighs,  agitate  the  muscles  of  the  stomach  until  it  seems 
to  gyrate.  The  African  daiice  is  distinctly  a  "  stunt." 
In  many  of  the  dances  they  follow  one  another  round  and 
round  in  Indian  file. 

But  they  also  have  hunting-dances  and  war-dances 
with  sham  fights.  Some  terrific  battles,  with  uucom- 
puted  casualties,  have  been  fought  in  my  school  yard. 
In  one  of  these  battles  they  impressed  into  service  an 
enormous  brass  kettle  which  I  had  provided  for  their 
cooking.  This  and  a  number  of  old  kerosene  tins  did 
noble  service  as  a  military  band  and  reinforced  their 
yelling  battle-song.  They  seriously  damaged  the  brass 
kettle.  But  I  forgave  them  ;  for  it  was  the  only  instance 
of  destruction  of  which  they  were  guilty  during  the 
whole  year.  One  would  scarcely  expect  them  to  study 
economy  when  a  battle  was  raging  upon  which — if  I 
might  judge  by  the  evidence  of  wild  enthusiasm — the 
future  of  their  tribe  was  depending.  Will  it  seem  cred- 
ible, or  even  possible  to  the  American,  that  never  once 
did  a  real  fight  occur  as  an  incident  in  these  battles  ? 

When  the  grass  was  rankest,  however,  or  when  the 
torrential  rains  had  excoriated  the  hillside  roads,  and 
there  was  plenty  of  hard  work  for  the  schoolboys  each 
day,  they  usually  substituted  story-telling  and  singing 
for  dancing  and  games  in  the  cool  of  the  evening. 

Boys  in  Africa  and  everywhere  else  are  fond  of  animal 
stories.  The  story-teller  imitates  all  the  animals  of  his 
story,  and  as  this  talent  differs  in  different  individuals, 
the  story  loses  nothing,  but  rather  gains  by  repetition. 
Mendam,  Nkogo,  Esona  and  Ekang  were  all  good  story- 
tellers. The  following  stories  are  known  widely  in  West 
Africa : 


The  tortoise  (which  corresponds  to  Uncle  Beums's 
Brer  Rabbit)  challenged  the  hippopotamus  to  a  tug-of- 
war.  The  hippopotamus  at  first  refused  to  believe  that 
the  tortoise  was  serious,  but  at  length  he  accepted  the 
challenge.  Then  the  tortoise  challenged  the  rhinoceros 
to  a  tug-of-war.  The  rhinoceros  at  first  did  not  believe 
that  the  tortoise  was  serious,  but  at  length  he,  too,  ac- 
cepted the  challenge. 

At  the  appointed  time  the  tortoise  was  on  hand  with 
an  enormous  bush-rope  (liana),  and  when  the  hippo- 
potamus arrived  he  fastened  one  end  of  it  to  him  and 
brought  him  to  the  bank  of  the  river. 

"Now,"  said  the  tortoise,  "I  shall  fasten  the  other 
end  to  myself  and  we  shall  keep  on  pulling  until  you 
pull  me  into  the  river  or  I  pull  you  into  the  bush." 

Just  then  the  rhinoceros  came  along  to  keep  his  ap- 
pointment, and  the  tortoise  fastened  the  end  of  the  rope 
to  him  and  said  :  "  Now,  I  shall  fasten  the  other  end  to 
myself  and  we  shall  keep  on  pulling  until  you  pull  me 
into  the  bush,  or  I  pull  you  into  the  river." 

Then  the  hippopotamus  and  the  rhinoceros  pulled 
against  each  other,  and  pulled  and  pulled.  Sometimes 
the  rhinoceros  was  dragged  almost  into  the  river  and 
again  the  hippopotamus  was  dragged  to  the  bush.  At 
length  they  became  completely  exhausted  and  each  of 
them  decided  to  give  up  to  the  tortoise  and  admit  defeat. 
For  this  purpose  they  came  walking  towards  each  other 
until  they  met.  They  looked  at  each  other  for  a 
moment  in  surprise,  and  then  they  both  cursed  the 
tortoise. 

The  chameleon,  despite  its  innocence,  is  an  object  of 
superstitious  fear  to  the  African,  and  they  are  disposed 
to  regard  it  as  superwise. 

The  chameleon  challenged  the  elephant  to  run  a  race. 
The  elephant  was  amused,  for  the  chameleon  is  one  of 


A  SCHOOL  215 

the  slowest  creatures  in  the  forest.  But  finding  that  the 
chameleon  was  really  in  earnest,  the  elephant  accepted 
the  challenge.  So  the  chameleon  and  the  elephant  set 
out  on  a  long  race  through  the  forest.  The  chameleon 
only  started  and  then  immediately  turned  back ;  for  he 
had  arranged  with  different  members  of  his  family  that 
one  of  them  should  be  present  at  the  end  of  each  stage 
of  the  race.  So  at  the  end  of  the  first  stage  when  the 
elephant  came  dashing  in,  all  out  of  breath,  he  found  the 
chameleon  already  there. 

"What?  You  here?"  exclaimed  the  astonished  ele- 
phant. 

"Yes,"  said  the  panting  chameleon,  "  I  just  got  in." 

"Aren't  you  very  tired  ?  "  said  the  elephant. 

"  Not  very,"  said  the  chameleon. 

So  they  set  out  again.  But  the  chameleon  only  started 
and  came  back,  while  the  elephant  ran  on. 

At  the  end  of  the  next  stage  the  elephant  was  again 
surprised  to  find  that  the  chameleon  had  arrived  a  little 
ahead  of  him.  And  so  it  happened  at  the  end  of  each 
stage  until  at  last  the  elephant  gave  up,  and  confessed 
that  the  chameleon  had  outrun  him. 

In  all  African  fables  the  various  animals  are  but  thinly 
disguised  human  beings. 

The  leopard  bet  his  life  to  the  antelope  that  if  he  would 
hide  the  antelope  would  not  be  able  to  find  him.  The 
antelope  agreed,  and  the  leopard  went  and  hid  in  the 
forest.  But  the  antelope  found  him  very  quickly.  Then 
the  leopard  was  very  angry.  So  he  told  the  antelope  to 
hide  and  see  how  quickly  he  could  find  him.  The  ante- 
lope agreed,  but  he  told  the  leopard  that  he  would  surely 
have  his  life. 

Then  the  antelope  hid  and  the  leopard  searched  for 
him  and  searched  and  searched,  but  could  not  find  him. 
Then  he  said  :  "I  am  too  tired  to  walk  any  more,  and  I 


216     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

am  hungry  ;  so  I  shall  pick  some  of  these  nuts  and  take 
them  to  town  to  eat." 

So  the  leopard  filled  a  bag  with  the  nuts,  and  when  he 
had  carried  them  to  town  he  called  all  his  people  together 
to  eat  them,  and  he  told  a  slave  to  crack  the  nuts  for  the 
people  to  eat.  But,  lo,  out  of  the  first  nut  there  jumped 
a  fine  dog.  Now,  the  leopard  was  married  and  had  four 
wives,  and  each  wife  had  her  own  house  in  which  she 
cooked.  The  dog  ran  to  the  first  house  and  asked  the 
wife  for  something  to  eat.  But  the  wife  beat  the  dog 
and  drove  it  out.  Then  the  dog  ran  to  the  second  house 
and  asked  for  something  to  eat.  But  the  second  wife 
beat  the  dog  and  drove  it  out.  Then  the  dog  asked  the 
third  wife,  and  she  also  beat  it.  Then  the  dog  asked 
the  fourth  wife,  and  she  beat  it  and  tried  to  kill  it.  But 
just  as  it  was  dying  the  dog  changed  into  a  beautiful 
maiden.  Then  the  leopard  wanted  to  marry  the  maiden. 

"  All  right,"  she  said,  "  but  you  must  first  kill  those 
four  wives  who  beat  the  dog  and  tried  to  kill  it."  And 
the  leopard  was  so  much  in  love  with  the  maiden  that  he 
killed  his  four  wives  for  her  sake. 

Then  he  asked  the  maiden  to  marry  him  ;  but  she 
said:  "I  cannot  marry  a  husband  with  such  dreadful 
nails.  Won't  you  please  have  them  cut?"  Then  the 
leopard  cut  his  nails. 

But  again  the  maiden  said  :  "  I  can't  marry  a  husband 
with  such  awful  eyes.  Won't  you  please  take  them 
out? "  And  the  leopard  tore  out  his  eyes. 

Then  the  maiden  said  :  "  I  can't  marry  a  husband  with 
such  clumsy  feet.  Won't  you  please  chop  them  off  ?  " 
And  the  leopard  had  his  feet  chopped  off  for  he  loved 
the  maiden  and  wanted  to  marry  her. 

But  again  the  maiden  said  :  "  There  is  just  one  more 
thing  that  I  wish  you  would  do  for  me.  Your  teeth  are 
frightfully  ugly.  Won't  you  have  them  knocked  out?  " 


A  SCHOOL  217 

And  then  the  leopard  sent  to  the  fireplace  for  a  stone  and 
had  his  teeth  knocked  out. 

Then  the  maiden  was  suddenly  changed  into  the 
antelope  ;  who  said  to  the  dying  leopard  :  u  You  thought 
to  outwit  me,  but  I  have  outwitted  you  and  have  taken 
your  life  and  the  life  of  your  whole  family." 

Towards  the  middle  of  the  term  the  boys  began  to  come 
to  me  voluntarily,  one  by  one,  saying  that  they  desired 
to  be  Christians ;  and  before  the  term  had  closed  nearly 
all,  at  least  four  out  of  five,  had  professed  faith  in  Christ. 
How  many  of  these  would  prove  faithful  no  one  could 
tell ;  but  very  few  of  them  gave  me  reason  to  doubt  their 
sincerity.  They  were  not  baptized,  nor  received  into 
the  church,  until  they  had  been  two  years  on  probation. 
At  first  my  confidence  in  their  profession  of  faith,  com- 
pared with  that  of  adults,  hesitated  ;  but  it  grew  stronger 
with  experience  each  passing  year.  The  boys  were  not 
the  weakest,  but  the  best  Christians  in  Africa.  Their 
minds  had  never  been  warped  with  fetishism  ;  and  they 
had  a  more  intelligent  grasp  of  Christian  principles. 

Separated  from  the  heathen  environment  during  a  por- 
tion of  their  formative  years — from  its  degrading  beliefs 
as  well  as  its  immoral  practices — and  having  that  intimate 
contact  with  the  missionary  which  only  a  boarding-school 
provides,  the  impression  was  nearly  always  lasting. 
li  As  the  twig  is  bent  the  tree  is  inclined." 

The  very  towns  in  which  these  boys  lived  became 
different  from  all  other  towns.  A  stranger  travelling 
with  me  from  town  to  town  would  surely  notice  the  dif- 
ference. These  boys  became  without  doubt  the  greatest 
evangelistic  force  in  the  Fang  field.  Africans  are  natural 
orators ;  and  even  the  small  boy  has  not  the  least  dif- 
ficulty in  expressing  his  thoughts  appropriately.  What- 
ever religious  truth  I  taught  the  schoolboys  they  in  turn 
taught  their  people  when  they  returned  home.  They  did 


218     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

what  neither  myself,  nor  any  other  white  man,  could  ever 
have  done.  Boys  of  twelve  years,  or  even  ten,  gathered 
the  people  of  their  towns  around  them,  both  old  and 
young  and  taught  them  reading  and  whatever  they  had 
learned  of  arithmetic.  This  is  a  matter  of  observation 
and  astonishment  in  all  mission  fields  in  Africa. 

And  all  Africans  have  this  beautiful  childlike  quality 
that  they  are  teachable — a  quality  that  Jesus  must  have 
had  in  mind  when  He  set  a  child  in  the  midst  of  the 
disciples  as  the  symbol  of  Christian  attainment.  The 
biggest  African  chief  will  sit  on  the  ground  and  listen  to 
the  small  boy,  so  long  as  the  small  boy  knows  anything 
worth  while  that  the  chief  does  not  know. 


XIII 

THE  MENTAL  DEGRADATION  OF  FETISHISM 

NO ;  it  was  not  among  the  Negroes,  but  among 
the  peasants  of  Germany  that  the  horseshoe 
acquired  its  power  of  luck. 

One  day  very  long  ago,  in  a  German  village,  an  honest 
blacksmith  was  hard  at  work  making  a  horseshoe  when 
the  devil,  strolling  about  the  village,  was  attracted  by  the 
hammering.  While  looking  on  at  the  blacksmith  it  oc- 
curred to  him  that  it  might  be  a  very  good  thing  to  get 
his  own  hoofs  shod.  Thereupon  he  made  a  bargain  with 
the  blacksmith,  and  the  blacksmith  set  to  work  to  put 
horseshoes  on  the  devil.  Now  the  honest  blacksmith 
knew  very  well  that  it  was  the  devil  and  nobody  else. 
So  he  put  on  each  of  his  feet  a  red-hot  shoe,  and  drove 
the  nails  straight  into  the  devil's  hoofs.  The  devil  then 
paid  him  and  went  his  way ;  but  the  honest  blacksmith 
threw  the  money  into  the  fire.  Meanwhile,  the  devil, 
after  walking  some  time,  began  to  suffer  pain  from  his 
shoes,  and  as  he  went  on  the  pain  became  worse  and 
worse.  In  his  torment  he  danced  and  he  kicked  and  he 
raged  and  he  swore,  and  still  the  pain  became  worse. 
Then  at  last,  in  agony,  he  tore  the  shoes  off  and  threw 
them  away.  From  that  day  to  this  whenever  the  devil 
sees  a  horseshoe  he  runs  away  as  fast  as  he  can  go. 

The  superstition  of  the  horseshoe  has  been  so  eagerly 
embraced  by  the  Negro  that  most  people  seem  to  think 
that  it  originated  with  him.  It  is  precisely  like  many 
of  his  own  superstitions,  and  it  shows  that  ignorance  and 
superstition  in  Africa  are  like  ignorance  and  supersti- 

219 


220     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

tion  anywhere  else,  and  that  the  African  mind  is  essen- 
tially like  our  own. 

The  charm,  the  fetish  and  the  relic  represent  ascending 
grades  of  belief.  They  are  all  associated  together  in 
what  we  call  fetishism.  The  charm  operates  not  by 
reason  of  any  intelligence  within  itself  but  by  some  in- 
fluence from  without.  The  horseshoe  is  such  a  charm. 
One  of  the  numerous  African  charms  is  the  string  which 
a  mother  ties  around  the  waist  of  her  child  and  which  is 
worn  throughout  childhood.  This  fetish  is  for  health. 
The  Eoman  Catholic  priests,  in  the  early  history  of  their 
missions  on  the  Congo,  substituted  for  tins  health-fetish 
a  string  made  from  the  fibres  of  a  palm  that  had  been 
blessed  on  Palm  Sunday.  There  is  no  evidence,  how- 
ever, that  the  substitution  of  the  Eoman  fetish  for  the 
African  fetish  resulted  in  any  marked  improvement  in 
the  health  of  the  natives. 

A  charm  is  not  necessarily  a  physical  object — like  the 
amulet.  In  Africa,  as  among  the  superstitious  every- 
where else,  it  may  be  a  word  or  action,  a  sign  or  symbol, 
a  formula  or  incantation.  To  count  the  number  of  per- 
sons present  on  certain  occasions  will  cause  the  death  of 
at  least  one  of  them  within  the  year.  The  utterance  of 
the  word  salt  at  the  wrong  moment  has  been  known  to 
produce  appalling  consequences. 

The  fetish  proper  represents  a  more  intelligible  form 
of  belief  than  the  charm  or  amulet.  One  common  kind 
of  fetish  implies  animism  ;  that  is,  that  the  various  ob- 
jects of  nature  have  each  a  life  analogous  to  that  of  man 
to  which  their  phenomena  are  due.  This  life  is  in- 
separable from  the  object.  The  eagle's  talon,  the  wing 
feathers  of  any  bird,  the  claw  of  the  leopard,  the  teeth 
of  animals,  and  all  those  objects  which  are  associated 
with  that  which  is  desirable  or  that  which  is  fearful  are 
valuable  fetishes,  because  one  may  avail  himself  of  the 


MENTAL  DEGRADATION  OF  FETISHISM  221 

powers  inherent  in  such  objects.  The  African  some- 
times says  that  the  surf  is  in  a  nasty  temper  ;  and  when 
he  uses  this  expression  he  is  not  speaking  figuratively. 
The  wind  talks  to  the  forest,  and  the  forest  talks  to  the 
wind.  The  tornado  is  often  nothing  more  than  a  quarrel 
between  mountain  and  forest,  lightning  against  wind ; 
and,  as  one  writer  expresses  it,  we  ourselves  may  get  hit 
with  the  bits.  Not  that  they  are  angry  at  us,  but  at 
each  other,  and  we  had  best  keep  out  of  the  way. 

Closely  related  to  this  class  of  fetishes  is  a  kind  some- 
what higher  than  the  animistic  fetish.  In  this  the  re- 
lation of  the  physical  object  and  the  power  within  it  is 
not  that  of  body  and  spirit  but  that  of  a  house  and  a 
tenant  residing  in  it.  The  spirit  may  leave  the  fetish, 
and  then  it  will  be  of  no  more  use.  But  the  skill  of  a 
fetish-doctor  may  compel  the  spirit  to  remain.  As  long 
as  it  remains  it  is  under  the  control  of  the  possessor  of 
the  fetish  and  must  do  his  bidding.  If  it  should  disobey 
he  will  punish  it,  usually  by  hanging  it  in  the  smoke. 
It  is  such  a  fetish,  contained  in  a  goat's  horn,  that  a  man 
walking  in  the  forest  carries  suspended  from  his  neck 
to  make  him  invisible  to  an  enemy.  Another  he  hangs 
among  his  plantains  to  keep  the  wind  from  blowing  them 
down. 

But  the  most  powerful  and  sacred  fetish  is  the  ancestral 
relic,  possessed  by  every  grown  man.  It  is  the  skull  of 
the  father  or  other  ancestral  relation.  Here  fetishism 
becomes  ancestor-worship.  The  skull  is  the  residence 
of  the  dead  father,  and  if  it  be  treated  well,  that  is,  kept 
in  a  warm  and  dry  place,  the  father  will  confer  every 
kind  of  favour — success  in  hunting  and  in  war,  in  stealing 
and  attracting  other  men's  wives.  For  death  has  not 
improved  the  morals  of  these  ancestors.  The  son  never 
punishes  the  ancestral  fetish.  Indeed,  if  he  neglect  it — 
if  he  let  it  get  cold  or  wet — the  ancestor  will  punish  him. 


222     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

Many  a  hunter's  gun  has  refused  to  fire  just  at  the 
critical  moment  because  of  such  neglect.  He  often  talks 
to  the  dead  father  and  tells  him  his  affairs  and  asks  his 
help.  This  fetish  is  only  for  men,  not  for  women.  If  a 
woman  should  see  it  she  will  surely  die.  If  she  even  be 
heard  talking  too  curiously  about  it  she  is  liable  to  die. 
This  is  no  imaginary  fear  on  her  part.  For  the  ancestral 
anger,  like  much  of  the  occultism  of  Africa,  has  a  material 
basis  of  secret  poison  administered  by  living  agents. 

The  fetish-doctor,  or  medicine-man,  is  to  be  feared. 
He  is  more  powerful  in  some  tribes  than  in  others ;  but 
within  his  own  tribe  his  reputation  depends  upon  him- 
self. Any  shrewd  fellow,  should  good  fortune  attend 
him  for  a  while,  may  persuade  the  people  that  he  can 
make  powerful  fetishes.  There  will  be  application  for 
various  fetishes  at  good  prices.  Every  success  en- 
hances his  reputation ;  and  if  he  is  very  clever  he  will 
even  convert  failure  into  success.  If  a  man  return  a 
fetish  and  tell  him  it  has  failed — that  his  goods  have 
been  stolen,  his  hens  have  not  laid,  his  wives  have 
eloped,  or  his  canoe  has  capsized  with  him — the  doctor 
will  not  usually  dispute  the  failure,  but  will  discover  the 
reason,  and  more  than  ever  impress  his  customer  with  his 
skill  and  knowledge.  Sometimes  as  soon  as  he  looks  at 
it  he  will  say  that  it  is  dead  ;  that  the  spirit  has  escaped 
from  it  and  it  may  as  well  be  thrown  away.  Then  by 
some  occult  means  he  discovers  how  this  has  happened. 
The  owner,  it  may  be,  has  not  taken  proper  care  of  it ; 
or  an  enemy  has  lured  it  away  from  him  into  his  own 
service ;  or  a  witch  has  killed  it.  Thereupon  he  offers 
to  make  him  another  fetish  at  a  reasonable  price. 

The  fetish-doctor  soon  acquires  the  power  of  detecting 
witchcraft  and  sometimes  even  of  discovering  the  witch. 
His  diagnosis  and  treatment  of  the  bewitched  are  interest- 
ing and  varied.  One  particular  treatment  is  as  follows  : 


MENTAL  DEGRADATION  OF  FETISHISM  223 

Having  discovered  that  the  patient  has  really  been  be- 
witched, he  makes  several  incisions  on  the  breast. 
Then,  after  an  exercise  of  howls  and  incantations,  he 
applies  his  lips  to  the  incision  and  sucks  the  wound 
until  the  patient  screams ;  whereupon,  he  takes  out  of 
his  mouth  some  article,  perhaps  a  goat's  horn,  which  he 
is  supposed  to  have  sucked  out  of  the  body  of  the  patient, 
and  which  had  been  witched  into  him.  He  again  applies 
his  lips,  and  when  the  patient  screams  a  second  time  he 
takes  another  article  out  of  his  mouth  and  displays  it  be- 
fore the  credulous  people.  Having  thus  removed  a  mis- 
cellaneous assortment  of  articles — roots,  pebbles,  broken 
pottery  and  other  objects  entirely  out  of  place  in  a  human 
anatomy — the  patient  is  left  in  a  fair  way  to  recover ; 
and  if  he  should  not  it  is  surely  not  the  fault  of  the  doctor. 

It  is  always  a  question  to  what  extent  the  fetish-doctor 
is  a  conscious  hypocrite.  He  usually  begins  practice  by 
exploiting  some  particular  fetish  in  which  he  really  be- 
lieves and  whose  power  he  has  proved.  Finding  the 
trade  lucrative  he  invents  other  fetishes  upon  the  same 
principle — for  there  is  a  principle,  that  is  to  say,  there  is 
always  some  apparent  relation  between  the  ingredients 
of  a  fetish  and  the  purpose  for  which  it  is  designed.  If 
some  of  his  first  fetishes  should  be  successful  and  gain 
him  a  reputation  he  may  come  to  believe  in  his  own 
power.  He  may  consciously  abuse  that  power — and 
physicians  in  other  lands  have  been  known  to  do  the 
same;  but  he  still  believes  in  the  power — believes  in 
fetishes  and  in  witchcraft  and  in  the  possibility  of  its 
detection. 

Africa  presents  to  the  psychologist  an  unexplored 
and  inviting  field.  A  man  who  possesses  a  fetish -skull 
usually  invokes  its  aid  to  prevent  secret  unfaithfulness 
on  the  part  of  his  wife.  He  compounds  a  certain  fetish 
the  ingredients  of  which  include  a  lock  of  his  wife's  hair, 


224:     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

cuttings  of  her  nails,  or  her  saliva.  This  fetish  he  puts 
into  the  box  with  the  father's  skull ;  and  now,  it  is  be- 
lieved, if  his  wife  be  unfaithful  she  will  surely  die ; 
death  being  inflicted  by  the  ancestor.  It  seems  to  be  a 
fact  that  this  fetish  frequently  proves  effective  without 
the  aid  of  poison  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  woman  dies.  Fear 
often  drives  her  to  a  tardy  confession,  which,  however, 
affords  her  but  small  relief  j  for  everybody  tells  her  that 
she  is  going  to  die. 

"  You're  a  corpse,"  says  one.  "  You're  failing  every 
day,"  says  another. 

And  the  poor  woman,  as  if  yielding  to  some  occult 
compulsion,  fails  rapidly  and  dies.  She  dies,  presuma- 
bly, as  a  psychological  consequence  of  her  belief  in  the 
fetish. 

One  must  never  tell  a  sick  person  that  he  is  going  to 
die  lest  one  be  charged  with  wishing  his  death.  In  some 
tribes  it  is  equivalent  to  a  curse  designed  to  effect  death, 
and  is  liable  to  severe  punishment. 

The  following  dying  confession  was  made  by  a  woman 
in  a  Fang  town  of  Gaboon  :  Years  ago,  when  she  was  a 
child,  a  man  of  her  town  had  given  her  a  certain  fetish- 
medicine,  concealing  it  in  her  food.  After  she  had  eaten 
it  he  told  her  what  he  had  done,  and  said  that  this  medi- 
cine would  effect  her  death  at  the  birth  of  her  first  child. 
She  must  keep  this  matter  secret  from  everybody,  even 
from  her  parents,  lest  the  medicine  kill  her  immediately. 
This  gloomy  prospect  darkened  her  life  for  years,  and 
just  before  the  birth  of  her  first  child  she  sickened  and 
died — probably  as  a  psychological  consequence  of  her 
belief  in  the  fetish.  Such  confessions  are  not  uncommon. 

The  mental  degradation  of  the  African  is  often  over- 
looked through  the  deeper  regard  for  his  moral  degrada- 
tion. Therefore  it  is  my  present  purpose  to  depict  the 
mental  degradation  of  fetishism,  and  to  set  over  against 


MENTAL  DEGRADATION  OF  FETISHISM  225 

it  the  new  and  transforming  conception  of  God  and 
nature  which  Christ  imparts  to  the  African  mind. 

Carlyle  has  said:  "What  notion  each  forms  of  the 
universe  is  the  all-regulating  fact  with  regard  to  him." 
Looking  out  upon  nature  and  knowing  of  no  divine  in- 
telligence ever  present  and  presiding,  the  African  does 
not  discover  the  reign  of  law  nor  the  uniformity  of 
nature.  Those  phenomena  of  which  the  cause  is  not  as 
obvious  as  the  effect  he  relates  to  a  supernatural  cause. 
And  since  will  is  the  cause  that  he  knows  by  experience, 
he  instinctively  attributes  natural  phenomena  to  a  per- 
sonal will ;  not  to  one  will,  however,  bat  to  many ;  for 
natural  phenomena  are  various  and  the  moods  of  nature 
are  inconsistent.  He  hears  the  crash  of  thunder,  and  if 
he  says,  "Somebody  threw  something,"  he  is  not  very 
far  from  the  ancient  conception  of  Jupiter  hurling  thun- 
derbolts. And,  since  that  which  is  normal  and  regular 
does  not  attract  attention  like  that  which  is  unusual  and 
fearful,  therefore  to  the  unreflecting  mind  the  beneficence 
of  nature  is  far  less  obvious  than  its  terrors;  since  the 
laws  of  growth,  seedtime  and  harvest,  rain  and  sunshine, 
— all  the  kindly  ministry  of  nature,  is  quiet  and  unob- 
trusive, while  her  cruelty  thrusts  itself  upon  the  mind, 
the  African  concludes  that  the  innumerable  spirits  which 
rule  nature  or  constantly  interfere  with  it  are  mostly  evil 
and  hostile. 

From  this  view  it  is  not  a  long  stride  to  the  belief  that 
the  spirits  reside  in  the  objects  of  nature,  each  in  its 
appropriate  object ;  and  this  is  fetishism.  We  are  all 
fetishists  by  instinct ;  though  we  may  hear  it  with  the 
astonishment  of  Moliere's  hero  when  he  found  that  he 
had  been  talking  prose  all  his  life.  Every  time  one 
slams  a  door  in  anger  or  kicks  at  a  bucket — as  if  such 
things  had  sentience  and  could  be  hurt — he  exhibits  a 
fetish  instinct. 


226     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

If  we  bear  in  mind,  then,  that  the  very  axioms  of  the 
African's  belief  obliterate  the  line  between  nature  and 
the  supernatural,  and,  further,  that  habitual  lying  makes 
the  character  of  truth  vague  and  uncertain,  and  also  that 
he  has  an  imagination  almost  as  vivid  as  reality,  we  may 
be  somewhat  enabled  to  understand  the  degraded  mental 
condition  indicated  by  such  incidents  as  the  following, 
which  I  repeat  because  they  are  representative  : 

A  certain  woman,  knowing  that  the  penalty  would  be 
death,  confessed — and  with  undoubted  sincerity — that  by 
witchcraft  she  had  caused  another  woman's  death,  and 
was  herself  killed  by  the  people. 

A  certain  man,  evidently  without  the  slightest  inten- 
tion of  untruthfulness,  tells  how  that  journeying  one  day 
in  the  forest  he  had  met  two  strange  men  who  by  fetish 
power  had  thrown  him  to  the  ground,  had  opened  his 
body,  and  removing  his  intestines,  had  stuffed  him  with 
dry  grass  instead,  which  would  have  injured  him  for  life, 
but  that  a  doctor  of  his  own  tribe  found  him,  reopened 
him,  removed  the  hay  and  put  real  intestines  in  its  place. 
I  know  a  woman  in  Gaboon  who  claims  and  evidently 
believes  that  she  is  constantly  attended  by  several  leop- 
ards, invisible  to  all  others  but  herself.  There  is  a  man 
in  Gaboon  of  whom  the  whole  community  believes  that 
he  frequently  changes  himself  into  a  leopard  in  order  to 
steal  sheep  and  to  devour  a  whole  sheep  at  a  meal.  This 
he  does  also  when  he  would  avenge  himself  upon  his 
enemies.  This  particular  man  denies  that  he  has  any 
such  power.  But  sometimes  men  confess  or  claim  that 
they  themselves  possess  it ;  and  in  some  cases  they  seem  to 
believe  it.  A  broken-hearted  chief  once  told  Du  Chaillu 
how  that  his  son,  who  had  been  his  joy  and  hope,  had 
been  accused  of  killing  two  men  of  the  town  by  turning 
into  a  leopard.  The  old  man  at  first  passionately  de- 
feuded  his  son.  But  to  his  horror,  the  son,  stepping  for- 


MENTAL  DEGRADATION  OF  FETISHISM  227 

ward,  confessed  the  charge,  and  that  he  had  turned  him- 
self into  a  leopard  and  killed  the  two  men — he  did  not 
know  why.  With  the  chief's  consent  the  son  was  burnt 
to  death  over  a  slow  fire.  And  the  sight  of  that  hor- 
rible death  was  ever  in  the  old  man's  eyes. 

One  day  the  Eev.  Dr.  Nassau  (who  relates  this  incident 
in  his  book,  Fetishism  in  West  Africa)  arrived  in  a  native 
village  where  he  found  an  extraordinary  commotion,  the 
people  panic-stricken  with  fear.  Upon  making  an  in- 
quiry as  to  the  cause,  he  was  told  that  on  the  preceding 
day  the  wife  of  the  chief  had  borne  a  son,  the  only  son 
of  the  chief,  who  in  his  joy  had  this  day  made  a  great 
feast,  which  they  were  about  to  celebrate,  when  suddenly 
another  woman  of  the  village,  carrying  at  her  side  a 
baby  girl  three  months  old,  passed  through  the  crowd 
straight  to  the  house  in  which  was  the  new-born  boy,  and 
exchanging  the  children,  came  out  bearing  the  baby  boy. 
Upon  the  loud  protest  of  the  people  and  a  demand  for  an 
explanation  she  told  them  the  following  story  : 

This  baby  boy,  she  said,  although  borne  by  the  chief's 
wife,  really  belonged  to  her ;  while  the  baby  girl  which 
she  had  borne  three  months  ago  belonged  to  the  chief's 
wife.  She  and  the  other  woman,  she  said,  were  both 
witches.  Until  recently  they  had  been  intimate  friends 
and  had  been  accustomed  to  go  off  together  in  the  night 
to  witch-feasts  and  witch-dances  in  neighbouring  villages. 
Their  unborn  babes  they  were  accustomed  to  leave  upon 
the  grass  while  they  joined  in  the  dance.  Her  babe,  she 
said,  was  a  boy,  and  the  other  was  a  girl.  But  one  morn- 
ing the  other  woman,  leaving  the  dance  before  her,  took 
the  male  child  and  left  the  other,  thinking  that  she  would 
not  know  the  difference.  After  that  they  had  never  gone 
out  together ;  a  coolness  had  sprung  up  between  them, 
and  she  had  waited  her  time  and  kept  her  secret.  In 
due  time  she  had  borne  the  baby  girl,  which  really  be- 


228     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

longed  to  the  chief's  wife ;  and  now  the  chief's  wife  had 
borne  the  baby  boy,  which  belonged  to  her. 

The  chiefs  wife  stood  dumb,  as  if  in  self-condemnation. 
No  one  doubted  the  story  ;  and  the  woman  bore  the  child 
away. 

The  trial  for  witchcraft  is  by  ordeal.  In  most  cases 
poison  is  administered.  If  the  accused  dies  or  is  seized 
with  vertigo  this  is  sufficient  evidence  of  guilt ;  if  no  such 
result  follows,  it  is  a  sign  of  innocence. 

The  African  believes  in  a  God,  who  made  all  things  ; 
but  his  idea  of  God  is  grossly  anthropomorphic.  God  is 
a  very  big  African  chief  with  a  great  many  wives.  Some 
of  their  fables  in  which  God  figures  are  not  repeatable. 
He  regards  men  and  women  with  contempt,  and  as  a  rule 
ignores  them.  I  do  not  know  that  they  ever  worship 
Him.  Their  worship  is  directed  to  the  innumerable 
spirits  about  them  who  infest  the  air,  among  whom  are 
their  ancestors.  The  spirits  are  generally  disposed  to  do 
them  harm ;  but  they  may  be  placated,  and  their  own 
dead  may  even  be  rendered  favourable  by  certain  cere- 
monies. But  an  incomparably  greater  number  of  spirits 
are  always  hostile,  and  the  impulse  of  African  worship  is 
fear. 

Here,  then,  is  a  state  of  mental  degradation  that  to  us 
looks  almost  like  insanity.  I  have  only  touched  upon  the 
salient  points  of  their  belief.  One  can  never  convey  to 
others  any  adequate  impression  of  the  stifling  mental  at- 
mosphere of  an  African  community,  with  its  stagnation 
and  torpor,  depressing  even  the  mind  of  the  missionary 
and  in  some  instances  fairly  threatening  his  faith.  My 
experience  of  that  atmosphere  has  been  such  that  I  have 
the  deepest  sympathy  and  compassion  for  traders  and 
government  officials  living  often  solitary  in  such  com- 
munities ;  whose  beliefs  and  morals  are  often  not  the  re- 
sult of  personal  convictions,  but  merely  a  reflection  of  the 


MENTAL  DEGRADATION  OF  FETISHISM  229 

beliefs,  traditions  and  moral  restraints  of  the  social  com- 
munity in  which  they  have  lived.  Upon  the  beliefs  of 
such  men  there  is  a  power  of  gravitation  in  the  mentality 
of  an  African  community  that  acts  like  the  Magnetic 
Mountain  of  the  Arabian  fable,  which,  as  ships  approached 
it  from  the  sea,  drew  out  of  them  every  nail,  bolt  and 
rivet,  and  left  them  a  wreck  of  floating  timbers,  to  be 
flung  at  random  upon  the  lonely  shore  or  buried  in  its 
sand. 

At  the  first  approach  the  mind  of  the  African  seems  ut- 
terly inaccessible.  His  mental  powers  are  paralyzed  ;  he 
has  forgotten  how  to  think.  If  his  mental  redemption  is 
possible  where  must  it  begin  ? 

One  day  long  ago,  when  a  fellow  missionary  and  myself 
were  together  in  the  Bulu  interior,  a  native  young  man, 
in  response  to  our  inquiry,  expressed  the  African  belief 
that  the  rainbow  is  a  snake.  It  has  the  power — which 
many  men  also  have — of  making  itself  invisible.  The 
missionary,  reflecting  that  superstition  is  simply  ignorance 
of  nature  and  nature's  laws,  resolved  to  undertake  imme- 
diately the  boy's  education.  The  sun  was  shining 
brightly ,  and  the  missionary,  having  sent  the  native  to 
fetch  a  bucket  of  water,  told  him  that  he  himself  would 
then  and  there  make  a  rainbow.  He  asked  me  to  stand 
on  the  porch  and  throw  the  bucketful  of  water  in  a  cer- 
tain direction,  while  he  took  his  stand  on  the  ground 
with  the  boy  by  his  side.  Now  it  happens  that  in  mat- 
ters of  science  I  have  an  inveterate  inclination  to  be  con- 
tent with  theory.  I  never  attempted  a  practical  experi- 
ment in  my  life  that  did  not  miscarry.  Besides,  every- 
body knows  that  a  bucket  is  an  exceedingly  awkward  in- 
strument with  which  to  take  accurate  aim.  The  water 
came  down  on  the  upturned  faces  of  the  two  eager  scien- 
tists. The  black  man  has  an  abiding  antipathy  to  the 
fourth  element ;  and  this  native  evidently  regarded  the 


230     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

performance  as  a  punishment  for  his  unbelief  in  regard  to 
the  substance  of  the  rainbow.  He  ducked  his  head  and 
shouted:  "I  belie  vej  Ibelievej  master,  please  don't  do 
it  again." 

Later  in  the  day  he  might  have  been  heard  telling  his 
friends  not  to  let  the  white  man  hear  them  say  that  the 
rainbow  is  a  snake — if  they  did  not  want  a  bucket  of  water 
thrown  on  them.  So  we  made  a  conversion  after  the 
Mohammedan  fashion.  But  that  native  must  have  won- 
dered what  might  be  the  essential  difference  between  the 
reign  of  law  and  the  law  of  rain. 

A  million  such  experiments,  even  if  perfectly  success- 
ful, would  not  be  worth  while  except  as  amusement ;  for 
the  native  mind  is  wrong  not  merely  in  particulars,  but 
fundamentally.  The  idea  of  God  must  be  inj  ected  into  na- 
ture, as  a  basis  for  law,  before  a  scientific  attitude  is  pos- 
sible. Only  the  idea  of  God  can  expel  the  multitude  of 
spirits  whose  activities  make  of  nature  a  haphazard  war- 
fare of  conflicting  forces.  And  how  shall  we  convey  this 
idea  to  the  degraded  mind  of  the  African  ? 

Of  course  we  should  change  his  idea  of  nature  if  we 
could  persuade  him  of  God's  unity,  and  that  nature,  there- 
fore, is  the  product  of  a  single  mind  ;  His  spirituality,  and 
that  He  is  therefore  present  everywhere,  in  nature  and 
the  hearts  of  men  ;  His  holiness,  and  that  God  and  nature 
are  therefore  on  the  side  of  righteousness  ;  His  love,  and 
that  God  and  nature  are  therefore  benevolent  and  sym- 
pathetic with  man.  But  to  talk  to  the  African  about 
God's  attributes  is  to  speak  in  an  unknown  tongue.  And 
besides,  God's  personality  is  something  more  than  the 
sum  of  His  attributes,  which  no  more  make  God,  as  some 
one  has  said,  than  arms  and  legs  and  head  and  trunk 
make  my  father.  But  we  can  present  to  the  African  mind 
the  personal  Christ — God  incarnate — and  the  African 
heart  responding  can  love  Him ;  and  loving  Him  he  can 


MENTAL  DEGRADATION  OF  FETISHISM  231 

know  Him ;  for  love  is  more  knowing  than  reason.  The 
African  is,  above  all,  still  capable  of  strong  personal  af- 
fection ;  and  looking  into  the  face  of  Jesus  he  sees  God 
— the  One  God  of  conscience — and  learns  to  call  Him 
Father,  a  word  which  even  to  the  African  mind  implies 
love  and  care.  He  knows  nothing  of  attributes,  but  like 
a  child  he  can  discern  his  Father's  will. 

God's  fatherhood  includes  His  care.  And  this  relates 
God  to  nature,  through  which  that  care  is  largely  exer- 
cised. His  first  lessons  on  nature  the  African  learns  not 
from  science,  but  directly  from  Jesus.  Jesus  multiplies 
the  loaves,  and  the  value  of  the  miracle  for  the  African, 
and  for  us,  is  not  the  wonder  of  it,  but  the  lesson  that  it 
is  God  who  gives  us  our  daily  bread.  Jesus  stills  the 
storm  on  Galilee  and  thus  teaches  that  the  Father  is  pres- 
ent in  all  storms  and  always  rules  the  sea  and  the  wind. 
which  are  not  under  the  control  of  demons.  Jesus  heals 
the  leper,  and  we  learn  His  power  over  all  disease,  and 
that  a  loving  will  afflicts  and  heals.  He  raises  Lazarus 
from  the  dead,  and  reveals  that  death  is  never  in  the 
hands  of  a  malignant  foe,  but  under  the  control  of  a  sym- 
pathetic Power.  The  thought  of  the  African  is  com- 
pletely reversed  by  this  knowledge  of  God.  Nature  is 
not  the  result  of  myriad  spirits  hostile  to  himself,  but  the 
product  of  one  single  mind,  and  its  laws,  the  expression 
of  a  constant  and  loving  Will.  It  is  as  if  the  forked 
lightning  at  which  he  trembles  in  the  darkness  should 
flash  upon  the  storm-cloud  the  word  Father;  and  fear 
becomes  faith.  In  Jesus  the  One  God  of  conscience,  the 
FatJier,  becomes  supreme  over  nature. 

A  certain  native  named  Toko,  of  the  Mpongwe  coast- 
tribe,  who  had  been  for  some  years  a  Christian,  went  back 
into  the  interior  among  the  Fang,  preaching  the  Gospel. 
The  Fang  were  notorious  robbers,  who  at  every  oppor- 
tunity plundered  the  cargo  of  traders  as  it  passed  in  boats 


232     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

up  and  down  the  river.  While  Toko  was  preaching  one 
day,  some  one  interrupting  him  said  :  "  I  don't  believe 
that  God  is  good,  as  you  say.  For  why  did  He  make 
this  river  so  crooked  that  in  order  to  reach  the  coast  we 
have  to  travel  nearly  twice  the  straight  distance?" 

"My  friend,"  replied  Toko,  "God  knew  that  you 
wicked  Fang  were  going  to  live  along  this  river  and  that 
you  would  plunder  passing  boats  ;  and  He  made  the  river 
crooked  so  that  you  can't  see  the  boat  coming  until  it  is 
so  near  that  you  have  not  time  to  get  out  to  it  before  it  is 
past." 

The  wit  aside,  and  however  defective  the  teleology,  ob- 
serve the  underlying  attitude  towards  nature,  and  the 
fundamental  change  it  implies.  God  is  in  nature,  which 
is  therefore  under  law,  is  sympathetic  towards  man,  and 
working  on  the  side  of  righteousness — a  view  that  ex- 
cludes and  dooms  fetishism  and  witchcraft.  This  simple 
man,  and  his  fellow  Christians  with  him,  had  the  right 
basis  for  a  scientific  knowledge  of  nature. 

It  is  truly  astonishing  how  the  African  mind,  despite 
its  rude  materialism,  beginning  with  the  idea  of  love,  as 
revealed  in  Jesus,  grasps  ultimately  the  spirituality  of 
God  and  the  spiritual  nature  of  true  worship.  One  in- 
stance must  suffice  for  illustration  : 

The  women  of  West  Africa,  in  preparing  their  food, 
bury  it  in  the  ground  beside  a  stream  for  several  days. 
A  fellow  missionary,  one  day  examining  an  old  woman 
who  presented  herself  for  baptism,  and  careful  lest  she 
might  regard  the  water  of  baptism  as  a  fetish,  asked  her 
a  question  regarding  its  significance,  to  which  she  replied  : 

"When  I  bury  my  food  in  the  ground  I  mark  the 
place.  What  use  would  the  mark  be  if  there  were  no 
food  there  ?  Baptism  is  but  the  mark  :  God  dwells  in 
the  heart." 


XIV 

THE  MORAL  DEGRADATION  OF  FETISHISM 

AN  African  woman  was  one  day  walking  through 
the  forest  to  her  garden  when  she  found  a  little 
child  who  was  apparently  lost  and  was  crying 
with  hunger.  She  took  pity  on  the  child  and  immedi- 
ately carried  him  back  to  her  town  where  she  comforted 
him  and  nursed  him.  The  child  remained  a  few  days  and 
then  mysteriously  disappeared.  Immediately  a  dreadful 
plague  broke  out  in  the  town  and  many  people  died  and 
there  was  much  mourning.  Then  they  knew  that  it  was 
not  a  real  child  whom  the  woman  had  found,  but  a  spirit 
in  the  form  of  a  child,  who  had  appealed  to  the  woman's 
pity  and  had  lain  on  her  bosom  in  order  to  bring  death 
and  desolation  upon  the  people. 

With  such  spirits,  wanton  and  wicked,  the  African 
mind  has  filled  the  invisible  world.  The  powers  above 
him  are  hostile — all  except  the  spirits  of  his  immediate 
ancestors. 

The  former  worship  of  snakes  in  Dahomy  (nearly 
extinct  by  this  time)  throws  a  lurid  light  upon  the 
African's  conception  of  the  powers  above  him.  Accord- 
ing to  the  belief  of  the  Dahomians  snakes  were  spirits  in- 
carnate. The  Dahomians  have  a  peculiar  interest  for 
Americans  since  the  "World's  Fair  of  Chicago,  where  the 
chief  attraction  of  the  Midway  Plaisance  was  an  African 
village  of  real  Dahomians,  who  regularly  entertained  a 
gazing  throng  with  war-songs  and  war-dances  and  also 
scandalized  feminine  modesty.  In  one  respect,  however, 
the  Chicago  village  had  been  modernized,  as  we  shall  see. 

233 


234     TfiE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

When  Leighton  Wilson  first  went  to  Dahoniy  lie  found 
in  each  village  a  house  in  the  middle  of  the  street,  pro- 
vided for  the  "exclusive"  use  of  snakes — there  was 
probably  not  much  difficulty  in  keeping  it  "exclusive" 
considering  the  deadliness  of  many  African  snakes.  The 
snakes,  Dr.  Wilson  tells  us,  were  fed  and  better  cared  for 
than  the  inhabitants  of  the  town.  If  they  were  seen 
straying  away  they  were  brought  back.  At  the  sight  of 
them  the  people  prostrated  themselves  upon  the  ground. 
It  is  not  improbable  that  during  the  World's  Fair  Daho- 
mians  in  far-away  Africa  were  offering  prayers  to  snakes 
for  the  safety  of  their  friends  in  Chicago. 

The  snakes  are  spirits ;  and  such  are  all  the  innumer- 
able spirits  which  infest  the  air,  excepting  only  a  man's 
ancestors,  who  are  more  or  less  kindly  disposed  towards 
him.  The  African,  therefore,  is  not  merely,  like  the 
Mohammedan,  the  victim  of  inexorable  fate  ;  nor  merely 
the  plaything  of  nature.  But  he  is  subject  to  the  caprice 
of  evil  spirits,  or  the  object  of  their  malignant  hostility. 

The  following  are  chief  factors  in  the  demoralization  of 
African  character  :  first,  the  African's  attitude  towards 
the  powers  above  him  is  that  of  fear,  for  he  deems  them 
hostile  to  him  ;  second,  his  consequent  attitude  towards 
his  fellow  men  is  that  of  distrust,  culminating  in  the  be- 
lief in  witchcraft ;  third,  his  conception  of  his  own 
destiny  is  not  hopeful  nor  ennobling  :  the  future  life  is 
not  better,  but  worse,  than  this  life. 

Against  the  hostility  of  the  spirits  a  man's  ancestors 
(especially  his  immediate  father)  afford  him  some  protec- 
tion. But  even  such  protection  is  uncertain  ;  for  the  an- 
cestors themselves  are  very  petulant  and  easily  offended, 
and  when  they  are  displeased  they  are  as  much  to  be 
feared  as  other  spirits.  The  favours  which  a  son  seeks 
from  his  father  are  not  spiritual  blessings  of  any  kind, 
but  temporal  benefits.  It  cannot  be  said  that  the  motive 


MORAL  DEGRADATION  OF  FETISHISM    235 

of  this  worship  is  entirely  filial  reverence.  A  father  is 
much  more  useful  dead  than  living  ;  and  aged  parents  are 
sometimes  even  afraid  that  their  sons  will  put  them  to 
death  in  order  to  procure  the  benefits  which  they  could 
afterwards  confer.  The  skull  of  the  father  is  the  com- 
monest ancestral  fetish,  but  not  the  only  one. 

An  old  chief,  one  day  when  I  was  visiting  in  his  town 
for  the  first  time,  came  and  laid  at  my  feet  his  most 
sacred  fetish.  It  was  contained  in  a  small  cylindrical 
box  of  bark  made  for  the  express  purpose  of  holding  this 
kind  of  fetish.  The  women,  when  they  saw  the  box, 
screamed  with  fear  and  fled  for  their  lives,  putting  their 
hands  on  their  ears  lest  they  should  hear  the  old  man's 
words  and  die.  They  are  not  supposed  to  know  the  con- 
tents of  the  box,  and  they  are  ready  at  any  moment  to 
take  a  solemn  oath  that  they  do  not  know,  though  as  a 
matter  of  fact  they  know  very  well. 

The  following  were  the  interesting  if  somewhat  repul- 
sive ingredients  of  this  very  powerful  fetish.  There  was 
first,  and  chiefly,  the  brains  of  the  old  man's  father,  who 
had  gained  eminence  and  success  according  to  Fang 
ideals.  Some  days  after  the  father's  death,  when  the 
body  was  partly  decomposed,  the  son  visited  his  grave  at 
midnight — entirely  naked — opened  the  shallow  grave, 
severed  the  head  from  the  body,  and  hung  it  up  in  a 
house,  letting  the  decomposing  brain  drip  upon  some 
white  chalk.  To  this  he  added  one  of  the  old  man's 
teeth  and  a  bit  of  his  hair  and  cuttings  of  his  nails,  also 
a  strip  of  flesh  cut  from  the  dead  man's  arm  and  dried 
over  the  fire.  When  the  owner  of  such  a  fetish  is  about 
to  engage  in  any  considerable  enterprise  he  rubs  a  portion 
of  the  brains  upon  his  forehead  and  thereby  possesses 
himself  of  all  the  serviceable  qualities  of  the  deceased — 
his  adroitness  in  lying,  his  skill  in  cheating,  his  clever- 
ness in  stealing  goods  or  other  men's  wives  or  in  killing 


236     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

his  enemies.  If  he  is  going  to  talk  a  big  palaver  he 
places  the  strip  of  dried  flesh  in  his  mouth,  and  keeps  it 
there  all  the  time  he  is  talking,  that  he  may  be  eloquent 
and  successful.  A  man  possessing  this  kind  of  fetish,  if 
he  were  going  to  a  trading-house,  would  not  hesitate  to 
rub  a  portion  of  the  brains  and  chalk  upon  his  hand,  so 
that  in  shaking  hands  with  the  white  man  it  might  pass 
to  the  white  man's  hand  and  make  him  benevolent. 
Some  of  them  think  that  having  thus  put  medicine  on 
the.  white  man's  hand  he  will  give  them  anything  they 
ask. 

The  hostility  of  spirits  other  than  ancestors  is  appeased 
in  various  ways.  Arbitrary  restraints  and  prohibitions 
are  frequently  imposed  upon  children  soon  after  birth, 
to  be  observed  through  life.  Such  prohibitions  usually 
have  reference  to  a  particular  spirit  which  is  always 
present  with  the  inhibited  person.  The  commonest  pro- 
hibition is  that  of  some  particular  food.  Among  my 
schoolboys  there  were  always  several  who  could  not  eat 
plantain,  although  it  is  the  food  that  they  like  best.  It 
was  often  difficult  to  provide  other  food  for  them  ;  but 
they  would  have  died  rather  than  eat  plantain.  Women 
are  prohibited  from  eating  certain  kinds  of  meat,  or  cer- 
tain parts  of  an  animal — usually  (by  a  strange  coinci- 
dence) the  very  parts  that  the  men  like  best.  There  is 
scarcely  a  limit  to  the  self-denial  sometimes  involved  in 
the  observance  of  these  arbitrary  restrictions. 

Among  the  Fang  the  offering  of  human  sacrifice  to 
placate  the  spirits  is  not  customary.  Witchcraft  prob- 
ably usurps  the  place  of  this  form  of  human  sacrifice. 
But  among  the  more  highly  organized  tribes  of  the 
Calabar  and  the  Niger,  where  individuals  wield  despotic 
power,  multitudes  have  been  offered  in  sacrifice  to  ap- 
pease the  hostility  of  the  spirits  :  and  they  would  still  be 
offered  but  for  the  presence  of  foreign  governments.  It 


MORAL  DEGRADATION  OF  FETISHISM    23V 

took  the  English  many  years  to  suppress  the  annual 
sacrifice  of  human  beings  to  the  crocodiles  of  the  Niger. 
I  once  had  the  pleasure  of  travelling  with  that  great  man 
and  great  missionary,  Mr.  Ramseyer  (Father  Ramscyer, 
all  white  men  called  him),  a  member  of  the  Basle  Mis- 
sion, who  for  thirty  years  lived  at  Kumassi  in  the 
Ashantee  Territory ;  and  I  heard  from  Mr.  Ramseyer 
himself  the  story  of  Prempeh,  that  beastly  king  of 
Kumassi,  whose  fetish-trees  were  regularly  watered  with 
the  blood  of  human  beings  ;  and  who,  when  at  length 
his  lust  for  blood  had  become  insatiable,  had  a  slave  put 
to  death  each  night  for  his  entertainment — and  prob- 
ably, also,  to  appease  the  hostility  of  the  spirits.  King 
Prempeh  was  finally  captured  by  the  English,  and  not 
long  afterwards  died  in  the  prison  at  Sierra  Leone. 

Next  to  fear  of  the  spirits  the  most  demoralizing  factor 
is  the  African's  distrust  of  his  fellow  men.  The  one  is  a 
corollary  of  the  other.  The  African,  like  other  savages, 
before  giving  one  a  drink  swallows  a  mouthful  of  it  him- 
self to  prove  that  it  is  not  poisoned.  In  some  of  the  large 
tribes  of  the  Niger,  where  a  king  is  a  king,  it  was  the 
practice  (until  the  English  government  interfered  with 
custom)  for  a  king,  upon  his  accession  to  the  throne,  to 
put  to  death  all  his  brothers  and  half-brothers.  In  one 
of  those  tribes  the  blood  royal  was  held  in  such  reverence 
that  under  no  circumstances  would  they  shed  it ;  so  they 
used  to  put  the  royal  brothers  to  death  by  stuffing  the 
mouth  and  nostrils  full  of  cotton.  It  was  a  far  more 
horrible  death  than  cutting  the  throat ;  but  it  was 
respectful. 

On  one  occasion,  when  my  heart  had  been  rent  by  the 
dreadful  cruelty  inflicted  upon  a  certain  woman  whom  I 
knew  very  well,  who  had  been  charged  with  witchcraft 
because  of  the  death  of  her  husband,  I  addressed  the 
whole  population  of  the  town,  and  after  holding  forth  for 


238     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

some  time  in  wrathful  denunciation  of  their  unreasoning 
suspicion,  I  asked  why  a  man's  wives  must  always  be  the 
first  to  be  charged  with  his  death.  An  elderly  chief, 
rising  to  his  feet,  gently  interrupted  me,  and  using  my 
native  name,  Mote-ke-ye  (Man-who-never- sleeps),  he  said  : 

"Ah,  Mote-ke-ye,  I  would  like  to  ask  one  question  : 
Are  you  a  married  man  ?  " 

I  was  well  aware,  when  I  answered  No,  that  the  shrewd 
old  man  had  routed  me.  The  guilty  men  looked  at  one 
another  with  a  relieved  and  peculiarly  significant  smile 
which  said  politely  but  unmistakably:  "Then  you 
are  not  qualified  to  judge  us ;  for  you  know  nothing 
about  the  natural  hostility  of  wives,  and  we  know  all 
about  it." 

A  man's  wives  are  the  first  to  be  charged  with  his 
death,  even  without  evidence,  because  they  are  supposed 
to  have  a  latent  desire  for  it.  As  I  have  already  said, 
much  of  the  witchcraft  of  Africa  is  straight  poison 
usually  administered  in  food.  Africa  abounds  with 
deadly  poisons  and  many  Africans  are  skillful  in  their 
use.  Wives  do  the  cooking,  and  so  have  the  constant 
opportunity  to  inflict  death  by  this  powerful  but  invisible 
weapon.  One  often  finds  that  one  bad  custom  is  nothing 
more  than  a  pitiful  attempt  to  correct  another.  And  this 
may  explain  the  custom  of  killing  wives  at  the  death  of 
the  husband.  At  any  rate  it  tends  to  restrict  a  wife's 
use  of  poison  and  to  inspire  an  earnest  effort  to  keep  her 
husband  alive. 

It  has  been  estimated  that,  in  those  tribes  that  are  be- 
yond the  restraints  of  foreign  governments,  nineteen  out 
of  twenty  Africans  die  by  violence.  This  accounts  for  the 
sparse  population  of  Africa.  For  although  the  African 
race  is  prolific,  and  the  land  in  most  parts  capable  of 
sustaining  a  dense  population,  it  is  the  most  sparsely 
populated  country  in  the  world. 


MORAL  DEGRADATION  OF  FETISHISM    239 

Many  of  this  number  are  killed  in  war,  which  is  a 
chronic  condition.  Nothing  is  too  trivial  to  occasion  a 
war.  The  usual  beginning,  however,  is  the  stealing  of  a 
woman  by  a  man  of  another  tribe  or  village.  Following 
this,  the  people  of  the  two  villages  wage  an  aggressive 
guerrilla  warfare,  killing  each  other  at  every  opportunity, 
not  sparing  women  or  children.  The  war  usually  con- 
tinues until  on  either  side  another  woman  is  stolen  by  a 
third  party  and  another  war  begins.  Then  the  first  war 
is  closed  :  a  great  palaver  is  talked  between  the  two 
parties  in  some  neutral  town  ;  and  after  oceans  of  oratory 
it  is  usually  agreed  that  the  side  that  has  done  the  most 
killing  shall  pay  over  to  the  other  side  a  corresponding 
number  of  women  and  much  goods,  including  a  proper 
dowry  for  the  woman  first  stolen. 

One  of  the  first  scenes  that  I  witnessed  in  Africa  was 
that  in  which,  at  the  end  of  a  war,  four  women  were 
thus  delivered  to  the  enemy.  The  people  were  all  gath- 
ered together  when  the  chief  announced  the  names  of  the 
four  women.  Each  woman,  as  she  heard  her  name, 
sprang  from  the  ground  with  a  shriek  and  tried  to  escape 
into  the  forest ;  but  several  men  were  on  hand  to  catch 
her.  She  struggled  until  they  bound  her.  Then  the 
next  name  was  called,  and  we  heard  another  shriek. 
Finally  the  four  women  were  led  away,  all  of  them  cry- 
ing bitterly.  In  the  town  to  which  they  were  taken 
they  would  be  given  as  wives  to  certain  men,  and  soon 
they  would  begin  to  make  the  best  of  the  situation, 
would  probably  form  new  attachments  and  forget  the  old. 

Women  are  thus  bought  and  sold.  A  man's  wealth  is 
reckoned  by  the  number  of  his  wives.  On  one  occasion 
in  a  native  town  a  conversation  with  the  chief  led  me  to 
preach  on  the  future  life  ;  and  I  preached  both  heaven 
and  hell.  The  chief  evidently  inferred  that  he  was 
bound  for  the  latter  place.  He  asked  me  what  I  thought 


240     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

about  it.  I  told  him  candidly  that  I  thought  so  too. 
For  a  moment  he  seemed  troubled,  and  then  his  counte- 
nance brightened  with  relief,  and  he  exclaimed:  "I 
know  what  I'll  do.  I'll  send  my  head  wife  in  my  place." 

Belief  in  witchcraft  is  the  extreme  expression  of 
mutual  distrust.  It  is  supposed  that  as  many  Africans 
are  put  to  death  for  witchcraft  as  those  who  die  in  war. 
The  African  seems  not  to  believe  that  there  is  any  such 
thing  as  a  natural  death.  Even  when  a  man  is  killed  in 
war  some  one  is  usually  charged  with  having  bewitched 
him  ;  for  it  will  be  said  that  he  wore  a  fetish  for  safety, 
but  that  a  witch  had  broken  the  spell  of  the  fetish.  A 
witch's  spirit  is  "  loose  from  her  body."  In  the  night 
she  leaves  her  body  and  goes  off  to  foregather  with  other 
witches  with  whom  she  joins  in  wild  and  unspeakably 
wicked  revels,  during  which  they  feast  upon  the 
11  hearts"  of  people.  The  people  whose  hearts  have 
thus  been  eaten  sicken  soon  afterwards  and  die.  A 
witch  is  always  careful  to  return  to  her  body  before 
daylight.  If  the  vacant  body  be  found  during  her  ab- 
sence it  would  be  wise  to  destroy  it  immediately. 

When  a  number  of  deaths  occur  in  close  succession  a 
council  is  held  in  the  presence  of  the  witch-doctor. 
When  he  announces  witchcraft  as  the  cause  a  panic 
ensues  in  which  the  people  become  fairly  dehumanized 
with  fear  and  a  thirst  for  vengeance.  Each  one  sus- 
pects everybody  else.  The  witch-doctor  sometimes  names 
the  guilty  persons.  And  woe  to  any  enemies  that  he 
may  have  in  that  town  !  Usually,  however,  they  resort 
to  the  ordeal  to  find  the  guilty  ones.  The  spectacle  of 
such  a  panic  is  very  revolting.  The  horrors  of  war, 
even  at  the  worst,  are  never  comparable  to  the  horrors 
of  witchcraft.  It  is  the  constant  fear  of  the  African, 
and  his  most  powerful  fetishes  are  those  which  protect 
him  against  it. 


Except  iu  the  vicinity  of  the  foreign  governments 
witches  are  put  to  death  and  always  by  cruel  means, 
wives  charged  with  witchcraft  being  buried  alive  with 
the  dead  body  of  the  husband.  In  one  town  that  I  know 
ten  women,  wives  of  one  man,  were  thus  buried  with 
him  ;  in  another  town,  twenty  women.  Their  legs  were 
broken  before  they  were  thrown  into  the  grave. 

Even  cannibalism,  regarded  as  the  lowest  reach  of 
degradation,  is  not  only  a  natural  consequence  of 
fetishism,  but  is  one  of  its  logical  forms.  I  doubt 
whether,  among  the  Fang,  it  is  ever  practiced  on  the 
mere  impulse  of  hunger.  It  is  rather  the  last  desperate 
resort  of  fear  seeking  fetish  protection.  The  strongest 
protection  against  an  enemy  in  war  is  to  eat  one  of  their 
number.  After  that  the  enemy  can  do  no  harm  and 
need  not  be  feared ;  unless  (always  this  same  dreadful 
qualification) — unless  some  traitor  in  one's  own  town 
should  break  the  spell  even  of  this  fetish  by  witchcraft. 

The  African  is  further  demoralized  by  his  idea  of  man's 
destiny.  He  believes  in  a  future  life.  I  never  encoun- 
tered a  doubt  on  this  subject.  But  his  belief  is  not  en- 
nobling, nor  a  source  of  moral  inspiration.  Death  is  an 
unmitigated  evil,  and  the  dead  are  always  wishing  to  be 
back  in  the  flesh.  The  future  does  not  hold  rewards  or 
punishments  for  the  good  or  evil  of  the  present  life ;  nor 
has  present  goodness  any  future  advantage.  There,  as 
here,  to  have  a  great  many  wives  and  plenty  to  eat  are 
chief  factors  in  happiness.  They  have  big  palavers  there 
as  well  as  here.  Sometimes  palavers  left  unfinished  here 
are  settled  there.  In  some  tribes  (the  Kru  tribe,  for  in- 
stance) when  smallpox  or  other  scourge  visits  a  town, 
and  many  people  die  about  the  same  time,  it  is  supposed 
that  an  unfinished  palaver  has  been  resumed  in  the  other 
world  and  these  persons  were  needed  as  witnesses. 

It  will  be  perceived  that  beneath  all  this  moral  degra- 


242     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFEICA 

dation  of  the  African,  beneath  his  cruelty  and  licentious- 
ness, there  lies  a  degrading  conception  of  man's  nature. 
Man  has  no  divine  origin  and  no  noble  destiny ;  there- 
fore he  has  no  intrinsic  value  and  human  nature  has  no 
inherent  worth. 

But  to  this  seeming  hopeless  ruin  of  humanity  Christ 
in  His  own  person  imparts  a  new  conception,  first,  of  the 
dignity  of  man's  nature ;  second,  of  the  possibilities  of 
his  character  ;  third,  of  the  greatness  of  his  destiny. 

In  Jesus,  God  takes  upon  Himself  this  despised  human 
nature,  and  reveals  the  divine  character  in  a  human  life. 
That  same  life  is  at  once  a  revelation  of  God  and  an 
example  to  men ;  and  without  incongruity  Jesus  could 
say,  in  words  perhaps  the  sublimest  ever  uttered  in  the 
ears  of  men  :  "  Be  ye  perfect  even  as  your  Father  in 
heaven  is  perfect."  Man,  therefore,  even  the  most  de- 
graded and  the  slave,  is  akin  to  God  and  the  object  of 
His  tender  regard.  The  light  of  this  revelation  ex- 
tinguishes all  minor  differences  between  men  ;  a  human 
soul  is  of  more  value  than  the  whole  world,  and  neither 
wealth  nor  power  can  add  anything  to  a  man's  worth. 

Much  is  added  to  this  new  conception  of  man  when 
Jesus  reveals  in  Himself  the  possibilities  of  human  char- 
acter. It  was  always  a  surprise  to  me  to  find  how  readily 
the  African  recognizes  in  Jesus  the  human  ideal ;  how 
he  accepts  Him  as  the  true  moral  standard,  by  which 
henceforth  he  judges  himself  and  realizes  what  he  is  and 
what  he  ought  to  be. 

The  great  destiny  of  man  which  Jesus  discloses  seems 
not  only  credible,  but  even  natural,  in  the  light  of  man's 
kinship  with  God  and  the  possibilities  of  human  char- 
acter. Instead  of  the  poor  African's  fear  of  death  and 
his  degrading  conception  of  the  future  life,  Jesus  sets 
before  him  a  hope  that  thrills  his  heart  with  joy.  Man 
has  many  present  faults  and  frailties,  but  he  does  not 


belong  to  the  present.  He  is  not  a  finality,  but  a  possi- 
bility ;  a  possibility  to  be  realized  only  in  the  perspective 
of  an  infinite  future,  in  which  death  itself  is  but  an  inci- 
dent, the  end  of  nothing  -worth  while  j  and  beyond  it  is 
the  consummation  of  all  our  hopes,  a  consummation 
•which  language  becomes  rhapsody  when  it  would  de- 
scribe. 

Is  it  wonderful  that  this  new  conception  of  humanity 
should  be  morally  transforming?  that,  for  instance,  it 
should  impress  even  the  African  mind  with  the  sanctity 
of  human  life? 

Cannibalism  disappears  as  soon  as  the  Gospel  becomes 
intelligible,  and  long  before  they  accept  it  as  individuals. 
A  war  arose  between  two  villages,  in  a  community  where 
I  had  preached  not  more  than  a  year,  for  the  people  had 
recently  come  from  the  far  interior  where  cannibalism 
was  commonly  practiced.  The  town  making  the  attack 
came  on  a  very  dark  night,  intending  to  set  fire  to  the 
other  town,  which  only  required  that  the  blaze  be  started 
in  one  place,  the  houses  being  so  close  that  all  must  burn 
together.  They  were  led  by  two  young  men  whom  I  knew. 
While  the  rest  of  the  party  were  hiding,  these  two,  going 
forward,  saturated  the  thatch  roof  of  the  first  house  with 
kerosene,  and  were  striking  a  match,  when  the  noise  was 
heard  by  the  man  inside.  He  quietly  arose,  moving 
stealthily  as  a  cat,  opened  the  door,  and  discovered  the 
two  young  men  standing  a  few  yards  in  front  of  him.  He 
took  deliberate  aim  and  fired  twice.  One  man  fell  dead 
instantly ;  the  other,  frightfully  wounded,  reached  his 
friends,  who  put  him  in  a  canoe  and  took  him  back  to  his 
town,  where  he  died  a  few  days  later.  I  have  said  that 
one  of  the  two  fell  in  the  street.  A  few  years  ago  they 
would  have  eagerly  devoured  the  body,  both  as  a  feast, 
and  as  a  fetish  protection  against  the  enemy.  The  fetish 
belief  still  remained  strong  as  ever,  but  they  revolted 


244     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

from  the  practice ;  and  having  cut  the  body  in  pieces  and 
boiled  it,  they  smeared  the  grease  upon  their  foreheads 
and  breasts,  hoping  that  it  would  thus  avail  for  their 
protection.  But  they  did  not  taste  it.  In  former  times 
they  would  actually  boast  of  eating  an  enemy  ;  now  these 
same  people  are  ashamed  to  confess  it,  and  it  is  the  most 
offensive  charge  that  one  town  can  make  against  another. 

The  old  chief  to  whom  I  have  already  referred,  who 
laid  at  my  feet  the  sacred  fetish  of  his  father's  brains, 
told  me  how  that  he  was  persuaded  to  give  it  up  by  a 
neighbouring  chief  (one  whom  I  had  instructed)  who  had 
come  to  his  town,  not  to  make  war  and  kill,  as  formerly, 
but  in  a  spirit  of  peace,  and  had  stayed  many  days  in 
order  to  tell  the  people  the  things  which  he  had  recently 
learned.  He  had  said  that  he  and  they  must  stop  mak- 
ing war  with  each  other  j  that  one  God  was  Father  of 
them  all,  who  also  loved  them  all ;  that  they  must  throw 
away  their  fetishes,  entrust  themselves  to  God's  care,  be- 
lieve in  His  Son  and  do  right ;  and  even  if  they  suffered 
for  it  in  this  world  there  was  a  life  to  come  in  which  they 
would  be  fully  rewarded.  This  same  chief,  who  was 
speaking  to  me,  -had  had  seven  wives  ;  but  at  the  instance 
of  his  new  faith  he  put  away  six  of  them  and  refused  to 
accept  a  dowry  for  those  whom  he  put  away. 

The  Christians  among  them  refuse  to  accept  the  dowry 
for  daughter  or  sister  ;  and  polygamy  of  course  is  forbid- 
den. Wars  are  less  and  less  frequent ;  and  the  sanctity  of 
human  life  has  taken  such  a  hold  of  mind  and  heart  that 
it  must  henceforth  be  a  governing  principle  among  them. 

How  completely  the  Gospel  of  Christ  can  transform  the 
invisible  world  to  the  mind  of  the  African  and  vanquish  his 
abject  and  demoralizing  fear  of  spirits  was  proved  by  the 
numbers  of  men  who  began  coming  to  me,  some  of  them 
from  towns  far  away,  in  order  to  surrender  the  skulls  of 
their  fathers,  the  most  potent  fetish  known  to  the  African 


for  protection  against  the  hostility  of  the  spirits.  I  found 
myself  in  possession  of  heaps  of  these  uncanny  skulls,  and 
I  did  not  quite  know  what  to  do  with  them.  One  day,  a 
man,  having  heard  that  I  was  going  to  bring  them  to 
America,  came  to  me  in  alarm  to  ask  whether  I  had  con- 
sidered the  possible  consequences  of  confusion  at  the  res- 
urrection if  the  heads  of  these  Africans  should  be  trans- 
ported to  the  other  side  of  the  sea. 

The  voluntary  surrender  of  a  father's  skull  is  the 
strongest  possible  evidence  of  the  sincerity  of  an  African's 
faith  in  Christ,  and  his  salvation  from  the  paralyzing  fear 
of  spirits. 

The  disciples,  that  stormy  night  on  Galilee,  thought 
they  saw  a  ghost,  and  in  their  fear  of  the  ghost  they  for- 
got their  fear  of  the  tornado  that  was  threatening  to  en- 
gulf them.  But  at  the  sound  of  a  well-known  voice,  "  It 
is  I;  be  not  afraid,"  their  fear  becomes  joy,  and  Peter 
even  cries  out :  "  Lord,  bid  me  come  unto  Thee." 

The  story  is  one  that  always  appealed  to  the  Fang  of 
the  Gaboon.  For,  in  bringing  their  garden  produce  to 
the  morning  market,  they  must  cross  the  bay  at  night  in 
their  frail  canoes,  and  they  all  know  what  it  means  to  be 
overtaken  by  the  sudden  fury  of  a  tropical  storm  until 
they  have  despaired  of  reaching  the  land.  And  it  is 
with  the  African  as  with  the  disciples,  his  fear  of  the 
supernatural  is  always  greater  than  his  fear  of  the  natural, 
and  confidence  in  Christ  casts  out  all  fear.  So  also  in  the 
last  hour,  when  about  to  pass  out  of  this  life  into  the 
dread  world  of  spirits,  I  have  seen  him  meet  death  with- 
out fear.  For  he  hears  the  voice  of  Jesus  saying :  "  It  is 
I ;  be  not  afraid,"  and  he  responds :  "Lord,  bid  me  come 
unto  Thee." 


XV 

FETISHISM  AND  THE  CROSS 

DTJBING  my  study  of  the  language  of  the  Fang  I 
was  one  day  talking  to  a  young  boy  and  search- 
ing for  a  better  word  for  mercy  than  the  very 
vague  word  in  general  use.    He  was  a  bright  lad,  with 
beautiful  eyes  arid  frank  manner.     I  said  to  him : 

"A  man  was  hunting  in  the  forest,  when  he  discovered 
a  woman  of  a  neighbouring  town  alone  in  her  garden. 
He  decided  to  steal  her  and  add  her  to  the  number  of  his 
wives.  He  caught  her  and  tied  a  bush-rope  around  her, 
and  himself  holding  the  end  of  it  he  made  her  walk  ahead 
of  him  through  the  forest  towards  his  town.  On  the  way, 
the  woman,  recovering  from  her  first  fright,  began  to  cry 
and  to  plead  with  him  to  let  her  go.  She  told  him  that 
she  had  three  little  children  and  that  the  youngest  was 
sick  and  would  probably  die  without  its  mother.  The 
man  for  some  time  hardened  his  heart,  but  the  woman 
continued  to  plead  and  to  cry  more  bitterly.  Then  at 
last  the  man's  heart  was  softened.  He  began  to  think 
that  perhaps  two  wives  were  enough  for  the  present ;  and 
he  let  the  woman  go. 

"Now,  when  he  reaches  his  town  and  tells  the  people 
what  he  has  done  what  will  they  say  about  him!  " 

Promptly  came  the  answer:  "They  will  call  him  a 
fool." 

"  Why  will  they  call  him  a  fool  ?  "  I  asked. 

"Because  he  is  not  a  real  man.  He  has  a  soft  heart 
like  a  woman's  heart.  All  women  are  fools." 

"And  how  about  small  boys?"  I  asked. 
246 


FETISHISM  AND  THE  CROSS  247 

"Oh,"  said  he,  "small  boys  are  very  much  like 
women ;  but  of  course  we  will  be  real  men  when  we  grow 
up." 

Hot  that  the  African  is  destitute  of  the  instinct  of 
humanity — by  no  means  ;  but  a  false  ideal  calls  for  the 
repression  of  his  best  instincts. 

In  the  course  of  a  war  between  two  villages,  in  which  I 
knew  nearly  all  the  people,  a  young  man  named  MinJcoa, 
a  bright  and  rather  manly  young  fellow,  was  one  day  out 
in  the  forest  hunting  when  he  was  shot  to  death  by  a  party 
who  were  in  hiding  near  the  path.  Minkoa' s  sister  was 
married  to  the  very  man  who  first  shot  him,  and  they 
had  been  intimate  friends,  like  brothers  in  each  other's 
regard,  and  had  visited  much  together  ;  but  the  man  did 
not  know  that  it  was  Minkoa  when  he  fired  the  shot  in  the 
dark  forest.  Having  wounded  him,  and  seeing  him  fall 
to  the  ground,  he  sprang  forward  to  complete  the  work, 
and  instantly  recognized  his  friend  Miukoa.  The  savage 
heart  is  never  wholly  savage.  With  a  cry  of  grief  he 
fell  beside  the  wounded  man  and  with  his  own  body 
would  have  saved  him  from  further  injury  ;  but  the  rest 
of  the  party  having  come  up,  they  dragged  him  back, 
flung  him  aside  with  a  curse,  and  standing  over  Minkoa, 
fairly  riddled  his  body  with  bullets.  Compassion,  or 
even  natural  affection,  under  such  circumstances,  is  a 
weakness  and  must  be  suppressed  as  incompatible  with 
what  they  regard  as  manly  courage. 

All  heathendom  suffers  for  want  of  a  perfect  human 
ideal.  The  first  result  is  a  variety  of  ideal  and  type  in 
different  nations  and  different  religions.  Not  only  does 
the  Confucian  type,  the  Mohammedan  type,  the  Buddhist 
type,  differ  from  the  Christian  type,  but  they  also  differ 
essentially  from  each  other.  In  each,  some  one  virtue, 
parental  authority,  for  instance,  or  courage,  occupies 
almost  the  entire  foreground,  while  other  virtues  recede 


248     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

in  the  perspective  of  character.  In  Africa  virtue  is 
almost  identified  with  courage,  and  power  is  worshipped. 
Woman,  therefore,  who  in  all  lands  represents  the  gentler 
virtues — compassion,  devotion,  patience — is  contempt- 
ible ;  and  the  child  also  ;  for  where  power  is  worshipped 
feebleness  can  have  no  claim.  Woman,  thus  relegated  to 
a  place  of  inferiority  and  contempt,  sinks  to  a  lower  level 
of  degradation  than  the  man.  Cruelty  is  the  character- 
istic of  the  men  ;  licentiousness,  of  the  women. 

But  notwithstanding  the  imperfection  of  his  ideal  the 
African  is  essentially  moral.  He  knows  the  difference 
between  right  and  wrong ;  he  knows  that  it  is  wrong  to 
lie  and  to  steal.  Sometimes  I  was  disposed  to  doubt  it ; 
when  he  told  me  lies  for  no  possible  advantage,  or  when 
he  committed  wanton  wickedness. 

For  instance,  I  ask  a  man  what  town  he  conies  from, 
and  he  answers  that  he  comes  from  Jamaneu,  when  he 
really  came  from  Atakaina  ;  and  there  is  no  conceivable 
reason  why  he  should  deceive  me,  except  that  he  lies  by 
preference.  In  the  first  days  among  the  Bulu,  before 
there  was  an  established  friendship  between  them  and 
ourselves,  when  I  have  asked  the  road  to  a  certain  town 
the  men  have  directed  me  the  opposite  way,  and  I  have 
inferred  the  truth  from  the  suppressed  exclamations  of 
the  tittering  women.  A  man  steals  a  woman,  instead 
of  offering  a  proper  dowry ;  and  when  I  remonstrate, 
indignant  that  he  should  precipitate  a  war  with  all  its 
bloodshed  and  suffering  rather  than  pay  a  dowry,  he 
amazes  me  by  confessing  that  he  expects  to  pay  the 
dowry  all  the  same — after  the  war.  Why  not  pay  it  in 
the  first  place  and  save  the  lives  of  his  people  ?  And 
why  does  the  African  tell  me  a  lie  when  the  truth  would 
serve  his  purpose  better  ?  Has  he  sunken  to  such  a  depth 
that  "Fair  is  foul,  and  foul  is  fair'"?  So  it  sometimes 
seemed.  But  a  more  intimate  knowledge  of  him  always 


FETISHISM  AND  THE  CROSS  249 

compels  oue  to  abandon  this  theory.  It  is  never  the 
love  of  bloodshed  that  leads  him  to  act  thus,  but  an  ex- 
cessive admiration  of  courage.  His  attitude  of  distrust 
towards  his  fellow  men  has  bred  in  him  a  disposition  to 
secretiveuess  and  deception,  so  that  he  lies  even  when 
there  is  no  occasion,  not  from  preference  but  from  force 
of  habit. 

Let  him  discover  that  another  has  lied  to  him,  or  stolen 
from  him,  and  he  will  resent  it  as  readily  and  as  natu- 
rally as  ourselves.  On  occasion  I  have  heard  him  preach 
a  fairly  good  extemporaneous  sermon  on  these  subjects. 
In  Old  Calabar  I  was  shown  the  leaf  of  a  certain  tree,  the 
lower  side  of  which  is  like  sandpaper,  and  I  was  assured 
that  it  is  frequently  used  upon  the  lips  of  persons  con- 
victed of  lying— though  I  did  not  observe  that  trees  of 
this  kind  were  being  rapidly  defoliated  by  reason  of 
this  custom.  The  African  lies  in  self-defense,  and 
steals  in  the  interest  of  success ;  but  what  he  practices 
himself  he  condemns  in  others ;  for  he  knows  that  it  is 
wrong. 

Again,  the  universal  practice  of  the  ordeal  is  evidence 
of  the  moral  nature  of  the  African  ;  though  at  first  sight 
it  would  seem  rather  to  indicate  moral  imbecility.  Some- 
times a  hen  is  set  on  eggs  and  the  accused  person  is  ad- 
judged guilty  or  innocent  according  as  the  greater  number 
of  chickens  hatched  are  male  or  female.  This  is  a  mode 
of  trial  for  less  serious  offenses.  More  commonly  in  the 
case  of  witchcraft  a  mild  poison  is  administered  to  the 
accused  in  a  drink.  Sometimes  it  only  produces  vomit- 
ing and  does  him  no  harm.  But  if  he  is  seized  with 
vertigo  and  staggers,  he  is  adjudged  guilty. 

Since  the  establishment  of  foreign  governments  it  is 
seldom  that  a  white  man  is  allowed  to  witness  this 
ordeal ;  but  in  earlier  days  they  witnessed  it  frequently. 
Du  Chaillu  tells  of  such  a  trial  at  which  he  was  present, 


250     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

in  a  town  near  Gaboon.  There  lived  in  the  town  a 
woman,  Ogondaga,  an  unusual  woman  among  her  people, 
he  says ;  the  one  also  who  had  kept  his  house  and  cooked 
his  food  and  had  been  exceedingly  kind  to  him.  A  num- 
ber of  deaths  occurred  in  the  town,  and  when  the  witch- 
doctor was  consulted  he  announced  witchcraft  as  the 
cause.  The  usual  panic  ensued.  The  terrified  people, 
exclaiming,  "There  are  those  among  us  who  eat  people," 
ran  through  the  streets  with  drawn  swords,  athirst  for 
blood.  The  witch-doctor  named  three  persons  as  possible 
witches ;  and  last  among  them  he  named  Ogondaga.  As 
they  dragged  her  from  her  house  towards  the  river  she 
caught  sight  of  her  white  friend  and  piteously  begged 
him  to  save  her.  The  lonely  white  man,  pale  and 
trembling,  looked  on,  but  could  do  nothing.  They 
made  her  drink  the  poison.  There  was  a  moment's 
terrible  suspense ;  then  she  was  seized  with  vertigo 
and  staggered.  But  even  before  she  fell  they  sprang 
upon  her  with  savage  yells,  cut  her  body  to  pieces, 
and  with  curses  flung  it  piece  by  piece  into  the  river. 
And  yet  I  am  citing  the  ordeal  as  evidence  of  a  moral 
nature ! 

The  roots  of  certain  shrubs,  the  bark  of  certain  trees, 
and,  above  all,  the  notorious  Calabar  bean  are  used  as 
ordeal  poisons.  Sometimes  both  the  accused  and  the 
accuser  are  compelled  to  submit  to  the  ordeal.  In  at 
least  one  African  tribe,  when  one  person  charges  another 
with  certain  serious  offenses  they  are  both  (accused  and 
accuser)  tied  to  stakes  some  distance  apart,  on  the  brink 
of  the  river  in  the  neighbourhood  of  crocodiles,  and 
whichever  of  the  two  is  seized  first  is  adjudged  guilty. 
The  other  is  then  set  free. 

The  ordeal  is  a  form  of  judicial  trial  in  which  super- 
natural aid  is  relied  upon  to  take  the  place  of  evidence 
and  to  determine  guilt  or  innocence.  We  must  not  for- 


251 

get  that  the  ordeal  was  a  medieval  practice  in  Europe  ; 
and  that  our  fathers  were  required  to  prove  their  inno- 
cence by  dipping  their  hands  into  boiling  water,  or 
carrying  a  red-hot  iron  nine  paces.  But  our  fathers 
believed  in  a  righteous  God,  and  when  evidence  was 
wanting  the  ordeal  was  a  direct  appeal  to  His  judgment. 
It  is  very  different,  and  more  strange,  to  find  the  African 
relying  upon  the  ordeal,  who  does  not  believe  in  a  right- 
eous God.  The  God  of  African  belief  made  the  world  ; 
but  in  character  He  is  no  better  than  the  Africans  them- 
selves ;  and,  moreover,  he  is  a  God  afar  off  and  inactive, 
while  the  spirits  who  are  near  and  active  are  also  evil 
and  hostile. 

The  principle  of  the  African  ordeal  is  that  there  is  an 
eternal  connection  between  guilt  and  retribution ;  and 
knowing  of  no  righteous  God  to  execute  vengeance,  they 
attribute  wrath  to  the  dumb  forces  of  nature ;  these,  they 
conceive,  are  in  league  against  the  wrong-doer  and  will 
execute  vengeance.  The  belief  is  the  more  impressive 
because  it  is  directly  contradicted  by  the  facts  of  experi- 
ence. Fire  burns  the  innocent ;  the  lightning-stroke  is 
no  respecter  of  persons ;  the  fury  of  the  tornado  is  not 
partial  to  the  good.  And  yet  the  belief  persists.  It 
persists  because  of  the  irrepressible  instinct  that  wrong- 
doing deserves  punishment,  and  that  somewhere  at  the 
heart  of  the  universe  there  is  a  moral  power  that  con- 
nects guilt  and  retribution. 

The  same  instinct  accounts  for  the  sleepless  Nemesis 
and  the  whips  and  scorpions  of  the  Furies  of  ancient  myth- 
ology. There  is  a  peculiar  and  striking  instance  of  it 
in  the  Scriptures :  Paul,  having  been  shipwrecked  on  the 
island  of  Melita,  gathered  a  bundle  of  sticks  and  laid  them 
on  the  fire  which  the  natives  had  kindled  ;  but  a  viper, 
by  reason  of  the  heat,  came  out  and  fastened  on  his  hand. 
Then  the  natives  said  one  to  another :  "No  doubt  this 


252     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

man  is  a  murderer,  whom,  though  he  hath  escaped  the 
sea,  yet  vengeance  suffereth  not  to  live." 

But  when,  instead  of  falling  dead  suddenly,  they  saw 
no  harm,  come  to  him,  they  changed  their  minds  and  said 
that  he  was  a  god. 

One  still  night,  as  we  lay  at  anchor  in  the  middle  of  the 
broad  river,  amidst  profound  darkness,  a  deep-voiced  man 
related  to  the  crew  a  story  of  how  a  certain  man,  whose 
father  and  sisters  had  been  killed  by  another  man  in  a 
tribal  war,  not  being  able  to  avenge  himself,  at  last 
a  threw  his  face  on  his  enemy."  It  is  not  necessary  to 
repeat  the  unpleasant  details  of  how  this  is  done  ;  but  in 
many  tribes  they  believe  that  where  a  great  wrong  has 
been  unavenged  it  really  can  be  done,  and,  intentionally 
or  otherwise,  it  illustrates  in  a  gruesome  manner  a  prin- 
ciple of  remorse  of  which  some  suppose  that  the  African 
is  incapable.  Ever  after  the  man  threw  his  face  on  his 
enemy  the  enemy  saw  that  face.  It  haunted  him  in  the 
midst  of  all  his  joys,  made  his  sorrows  the  heavier,  and 
poisoned  all  the  pleasures  of  his  life.  Fetishes,  prayers, 
incantations  were  all  in  vain  ;  he  still  saw  it,  saw  it  alike 
in  the  darkness  and  the  light,  and  saw  it  always.  At 
last,  when  madness  threatened  him  because  of  this  haunt- 
ing face,  he  killed  himself  to  escape  from  it.  But  it  is 
very  doubtful  whether  he  would  escape  it  even  in  death  ; 
for  there  are  those  who  say  that  a  face  thrown  upon  a 
man  will  continue  to  haunt  him  in  the  next  life  even  as  in 
this. 

Again,  even  more  clearly  does  the%.fricau  prove  that 
he  is  essentially  moral  by  the  ceremonies  which  he  has 
instituted  for  the  relief  of  a  sense  of  guilt.  I  once  wit- 
nessed a  peculiar  ceremony  of  this  kind  in  a  native  town. 
A  series  of  dire  misfortunes,  which  had  exhausted  the 
usual  resources  of  fetishism,  led  them  at  length  to  search 
their  own  hearts  for  the  cause.  By  some  means  it  was 


FETISHISM  AND  THE  CROSS  253 

concluded  that  the  infidelity  of  the  wives  of  the  town  was 
the  cause  of  their  calamities.  Thereupon  a  fetish  medi- 
cine was  prepared  in  a  large  bucket.  An  individual  who 
played  the  part  of  priest  was  hidden  in  a  green  booth  in 
the  middle  of  the  street.  He  was  supposed  by  the  women 
to  be  a  spirit,  aud  not  a  human  being.  He  spoke  in  a 
false  voice  that  was  inhuman  enough  for  any  spirit.  The 
women  as  he  called  them  by  name,  one  by  one,  ap- 
proached and  sat  down  on  a  seat  a  few  yards  from  the 
booth.  The  "spirit"  within  the  booth  held  one  end  of 
a  rope  of  vine,  while  the  woman  seated  without  held  the 
other.  Then  he  asked  her  whether  she  was  guilty  of  the 
sin  that  had  wrought  so  much  evil.  The  women  believed 
that  the  spirit  already  knew  their  guilt  or  innocence,  and 
they  were  afraid  to  lie.  They  all  confessed  their  guilt  in 
the  hearing  of  the  people — probably  every  woman  in  the 
town.  Then  an  assistant,  at  the  command  of  the  priest, 
dipped  a  bunch  of  grass  into  the  medicine  and  sprinkled 
it  upon  the  guilty,  thereby  removing  the  curse. 

Since  that  time  they  have  all  heard  of  the  blood  that 
was  shed  on  Calvary  ;  and  by  its  sprinkling  some  of  those 
same  women,  I  trust,  have  been  cleansed  from  a  guilty 
conscience. 

Blood  itself  is  often  used  in  these  ceremonies  ;  the  fresh 
blood  of  fowls,  or  of  sheep  or  goats.  In  such  a  ceremony 
the  people  are  seated  on  the  ground,  one  behind  another, 
and  the  priest  passing  along  pours  the  blood  over  their 
heads  and  shoulders.  To  most  of  them  it  is  a  mere  cere- 
monial and  remo^&s  the  curse  without  reference  to  the 
heart.  Such  a  scene  often  recalled  the  observation  of 
George  Adam  Smith,  that  the  essence  of  heathenism  is 
not  idolatry  but  ritualism.  Many  of  them  shrink  from 
the  blood,  lowering  their  heads  to  keep  it  off  their  faces 
and  evidently  desiring  as  little  of  it  as  possible.  But  oc- 
casionally one  may  see  a  woman  welcome  it  with  eager, 


254     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

upturned  face,  and  eyes  of  infinite  and  pathetic  longing  ; 
in  the  spirit  of  that  disciple  who  said  :  "Lord,  not  my 
feet  only,  but  also  my  hands  and  my  head." 

"Out  of  the  depths,"  said  the  psalmist— "  Out  of  the 
depths  have  I  cried  unto  Thee,  O  Lord."  And  must  we 
not  believe  that  this  inarticulate  cry  from  the  abysmal 
depths  of  the  poor  African  woman's  darkness  and  degra- 
dation is  heard  by  the  attentive  ear  of  Him  who  sitteth 
upon  the  throne  of  the  heavens  and  is  very  nigh  unto 
them  that  are  of  a  contrite  heart  ? 

In  nothing  else  does  the  African  reveal  his  essentially 
moral  nature  more  than  in  his  immediate  recognition  and 
acceptance  of  the  character  of  Jesus  as  the  human  ideal ; 
although  it  is  an  ideal  that  traverses  all  his  former  con- 
ceptions, that  subverts  those  ideas  which  are  the  basis  of 
his  dearest  social  customs,  and  condemns  utterly  that  con- 
duct which  has  been  his  very  boast.  Jesus  is  so  imme- 
diately understood  by  the  African  that  we  are  often  asked 
whether  Jesus  was  a  black  man.  He  is  understood  by 
every  tribe  and  nation,  because  He  unites  in  Himself  the 
ideals  of  all.  He  also  unites  in  Himself  individual  quali- 
ties of  seeming  incompatibility.  In  Him  the  most  mas- 
culine qualities  are  united  with  those  which  are  usually 
regarded  as  feminine,  such  as  gentleness,  patience,  devo- 
tion. Christ  redeems  woman  from  oppression  and  bond- 
age by  rescuing  from  contempt  those  virtues  in  which  she 
excels,  and  even  giving  them  preeminence.  He  is  the 
ideal  of  woman  as  well  as  man. 

But  that  which  concerns  us  just  now  is  the  strange  fact 
that  the  African  immediately  accepts  the  new  ideal.  He 
recognizes  the  character  of  Jesus  as  the  authoritative 
standard  even  when  he  refuses  to  conform  to  it ;  and  its 
authority  is  based  wholly  on  his  perception  of  its  intrinsic 
superiority.  The  African  finds  in  Jesus  the  complete 
definition  of  his  own  conscience.  We  shall  not  find  a 


FETISHISM  AND  THE  CROSS  255 

better  explanation  of  this  fact  than  that  of  the  Bible ;  that 
he  was  made  in  the  image  of  God  and  has  not  forgotten 
his  origin. 

If  this  depiction  of  the  mind  and  heart  of  the  African 
be  true,  it  will  be  almost  a  foregone  conclusion  that  the 
gospel  which  inspires  his  faith  and  becomes  the  power  of 
God  unto  his  salvation  is  the  gospel  of  the  cross  and  the 
atoning  Saviour.  Those  who  are  called  to  preach  Christ 
to  the  most  degraded  of  mankind  are  ever  in  accord  with 
the  persistent  instinct  of  the  Church  in  all  ages,  embodied 
in  the  beautiful  tradition  that  the  spear  which  wounded 
our  Saviour's  side  on  Calvary  had  henceforth  the  power 
to  heal  every  wound  that  it  touched. 

This  gospel  of  the  atonement,  in  the  first  place,  relieves 
his  sense  of  guilt.  His  sense  of  guilt  is  very  vague,  in- 
deed ;  but  the  ceremonies  which  he  has  instituted  for  its 
removal  are  the  most  concrete  expression  of  his  moral  na- 
ture. He  knows  nothing  of  the  theological  implications 
of  the  atonement,  nor  does  he  understand  the  philosophy 
of  his  own  salvation ;  but  he  knows  that  the  crucified 
Christ  satisfies  his  heart  and  relieves  his  conscience.  For 
man  is  always  greater  than  his  reasoning  faculty,  and 
sometimes  when  it  is  impotent  he  still  may  know  the  truth 
by  faith  direct.  The  justice  of  vicarious  atonement  is  not 
incredible  to  the  African  because  he  already  has  the  idea. 
In  common  with  most  oriental  races  he  has  an  idea  of 
human  solidarity  which  the  occidental  has  lost  (though 
he  is  regaining  it)  by  reason  of  his  excessive  em- 
phasis upon  individualism.  The  African  represents 
the  opposite  extreme.  Each  member  of  a  family  or  tribe 
may  be  held  justly  accountable  for  any  misdeed  of  any 
other  member.  If,  for  instance,  in  conducting  a  caravan 
through  the  forest  one  of  them  should  desert,  it  would 
be  in  strict  accord  with  African  justice  to  shoot  all  the 
remaining  members  of  that  man's  tribe.  White  men  (in- 


256     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

eluding  some  missionaries)  have  occasionally  won  a  rep- 
utation for  generosity  by  foregoing  their  rights  in  this 
respect.  The  human  mind  will  never  exhaust  the  divine 
mystery  of  the  cross  j  but  somewhere  in  its  neighbour- 
hood society  will  probably  find  the  true  mean  between 
the  two  extremes  of  individualism  and  social  solidarity. 
The  voluntary  sacrifice  of  Christ  as  our  representative  and 
its  procurement  of  our  pardon  is  credible  to  the  African 
and  relieves  his  sense  of  guilt. 

Again,  it  is  Christ  as  the  atoning  Saviour  who  secures 
his  repentance.  Nowhere  else  but  at  the  cross  have  men 
united  the  ideas  of  holiness  and  love,  God's  hatred  of  sin 
and  love  of  men.  In  heathen  religions,  when  love  is  at- 
tributed to  God,  as  in  some  forms  of  Hinduism,  He  is  in- 
dulgent and  indifferent  to  sin  ;  when  holiness  is  attributed 
to  Him,  as  in  Mohammedanism,  He  is  remote  and  indif- 
ferent to  men,  because  they  are  sinful.  And  even  the 
Pharisees  were  scandalized,  not  understanding  how  that 
Jesus,  while  professing  to  be  holy,  could  receive  sinners 
and  eat  with  them.  But  the  atoning  death  of  Jesus,  in 
which  the  divine  goodness  is  concreted,  unites  holiness 
and  love,  hatred  of  sin  and  love  of  righteousness,  and 
makes  them  inseparable. 

Those  who  have  acquired  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the 
mind  and  heart  of  the  heathen  know  that  it  is  the  con- 
sequences of  sin,  rather  than  sin  itself,  which  they  would 
escape.  There  is  but  little  real  abhorrence  of  sin.  And 
the  missionary  feels  instinctively  that  to  proclaim  to  such 
an  audience  a  gospel  of  forgiveness  on  a  basis  of  re- 
pentance alone,  without  either  penalty  or  atoning  sacri- 
fice, would  only  give  license  to  indulgence,  and  make 
repentance  itself  impossible.  The  atonement  of  Christ, 
while  offering  free  pardon,  impresses  even  the  mind  of 
the  African  with  the  enormity  of  sin  and  the  impos- 
sibility of  pardon  to  the  impenitent. 


FETISHISM  AND  THE  CROSS  257 

And  again,  Christ  the  atoning  Saviour  is  the  highest 
impulse  to  self-sacrificing  service.  The  love  of  the 
atonement  is  more  than  the  love  of  complacence.  The 
atonement  is  love  actualized  as  service. 

It  seems  to  me  one  must  have  lived  among  the  heathen 
in  order  to  realize  how  this  principle  of  self-sacrifice 
stands  over  against  the  world's  principle  of  self-assertion. 
It  is  claimed,  and  with  some  truth,  that  Buddhism  also 
has  this  principle  of  self-sacrifice.  But,  according  to 
that  religion,  self-sacrifice  leads  to  death,  practical 
annihilation,  which  is  therefore  more  desirable  than  life. 
In  Christianity  self-sacrifice  leads  to  more  abundant  life 
and  is  the  way  not  to  a  grave  but  to  a  throne.  In  Revela- 
tion a  Lamb  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the  world  is  seated 
upon  the  throne  and  rules :  self-sacrifice  is  the  principle 
not  of  death  but  of  life,  the  way  to  power  and  glory ; 
and  this  is  not  merely  a  temporal  discipline,  but 
an  eternal  principle — "from  the  foundation  of  the 
world." 

The  African  has  a  capacity  for  devotion  not  surpassed 
in  the  world.  And  he  easily  construes  Christian  duty  in 
terms  of  service. 

Ndong  Koni  was  one  of  the  first  of  the  Fang  Christians. 
He  chose  Christ  early  in  life,  and  his  mind  was  as  com- 
pletely purged  of  fetishism  as  was  his  heart  of  heathen 
cruelty.  He  was  gentle  and  affectionate ;  and  through 
all  the  years  in  which  he  was  my  constant  companion,  in 
frequent  sickness,  and  in  toils  long  and  hard,  I  received 
from  him  so  much  kindness  and  affection  that  my  heart 
still  grows  tender  when  I  think  of  him.  Ndong  Koni 
was  accounted  very  poor  because  he  had  no  sisters.  A 
man  gives  his  sisters  in  marriage,  and  with  the  dowry 
which  he  obtains  he  procures  for  himself  as  many  wives 
as  he  has  sisters.  Ndong  Koni  had  not  even  one  sister  ; 
and  since  he  would  not  elope  with  another  man's  wife 


258     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

his  domestic  future  was  a  problem  which  neither  he  nor 
his  friends  could  solve.  Therefore,  when  he  came  to  the 
mission  and  asked  for  work,  I  supposed  that  he  had  re- 
solved to  procure  a  dowry  by  working  for  it — which 
would  require  the  labour  of  years.  But  I  found,  when  I 
visited  his  town,  that,  with  only  the  assistance  of  an  old 
uncle,  Ndong  Koni  had  built  a  little  church  in  his  town  ; 
and  in  order  that  it  should  be  far  better  than  any  house 
in  town  they  had  decided  that  it  should  have  real 
carpenter-made  windows  and  doors  swinging  on  real 
hinges.  This  grandeur  would  be  very  costly,  and  Ndong 
Koni  had  sought  work  at  the  mission  in  order  to  earn 
money  to  pay  for  it.  From  that  time,  as  long  as  I  re- 
mained in  Africa,  he  never  left  me,  except  for  an 
occasional  brief  interval.  He  rose  from  one  position  to 
another  until  he  was  captain  of  the  crew  of  the  Dorothy, 
and,  finally,  a  catechist.  Many  of  the  towns  near  Ndong 
Koni's  home  were  new,  the  people  having  come  recently 
from  the  interior.  I  was  the  first  white  man  to  visit  most 
of  these  ;  but  I  always  found  that  Ndong  Koni  had  pre- 
ceded me  and  was  the  first  missionary. 

One  of  Ndong  Koni's  converts  was  Onjoga,  a  re- 
markable man,  who  afterwards  became  an  elder  in  the 
Fang  church.  Onjoga  had  reached  middle  age  when  he 
became  a  Christian,  and  for  a  long  time  he  was  the  only 
Christian  in  his  town.  It  was  a  peculiarly  bad  town. 
Soon  after  his  conversion  he  came  to  the  mission  to  ask 
me  if  I  could  send  a  teacher  to  his  town ;  for,  he  said, 
he  would  like  to  learn  to  read  the  Bible  that  he  might 
instruct  his  people.  I  had  no  teacher  whom  I  could 
send  ;  but  Onjoga  was  so  determined  that  I  concluded  to 
keep  him  at  Baraka  for  a  while  and  give  him  special 
instruction.  He  remained  several  months  during  which 
I  taught  him  daily  ;  and  half  of  each  day  he  worked  in 
the  yard  to  earn  the  price  of  his  food. 


FETISHISM  AND  THE  CROSS  259 

He  winced  perceptibly  when  I  told  him  that  the  only 
work  which  I  could  give  him  at  the  time  was  that  of 
cutting  grass.  This  is  the  one  kind  of  work,  above  all 
others,  that  the  African  soul  abhors.  The  coarse,  rank 
grass  grows  with  astonishing  rapidity  in  that  moist,  hot 
climate.  But  for  reasons  of  health  it  must  be  kept 
down.  A  lawn-mower  is  useless  :  it  is  cut  with  a  short, 
straight  cutlass — the  English  matchet — and  in  wielding 
this  cutlass  one  must  stoop  to  the  very  ground.  It  is 
extremely  hard  work,  and  regarded  also  as  peculiarly 
menial.  To  keep  half  a  dozen  natives  working  at  it 
steadily  for  half  a  day  is  the  final  test  of  the  white 
man's  power  of  command  in  Africa. 

One  day  I  set  the  crew  of  the  Evangeline  at  this  work. 
Makuba,  the  captain,  was  very  resentful ;  and  the  next 
day  when  I  ordered  him  to  get  the  boat  ready  for  a  mis- 
sionary journey  he  was  still  resentful — so  much  so  that 
he  could  scarcely  walk.  In  answer  to  my  stare  of  amaze- 
ment at  his  snail  pace  he  informed  me  that  he  had 
rheumatism  as  a  result  of  cutting  grass.  Makuba  was  an 
incomparable  boatman  and  a  faithful  friend  ;  but  in  that 
mood  he  was  sufficiently  exasperating  to  demoralize  both 
crew  and  missionary  and  to  make  the  heathen  rage. 
When  we  got  well  under  way,  and  the  Evangeline  had 
spread  her  white  wings  to  the  wind,  the  other  men  began 
to  eat ;  but  Makuba  would  not  even  touch  his  food.  At 
length  I  said  to  him  : 

"Makuba,  I  am  very  sorry  that  your  rheumatism  is  so 
bad  you  can't  eat ;  for  I  am  going  to  have  a  fried  chicken 
for  my  dinner  and  I  was  expecting  to  give  you  a  portion 
of  it — about  half,  perhaps." 

I  had  already  learned  that  the  chicken  is  the  one 
African  fetish  whose  potency  survives  all  changes. 
Makuba' s  countenance  was  a  study  ;  but  he  replied  : 

"Mr.  Milligau,  chicken  no  be  same  as  other  chop.     I 


260     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

be  fit  to  eat  chicken."  (Makuba  was  not  a  Fang,  so  he 
always  addressed  me  in  English.) 

"  But  do  you  think  it  would  cure  your  rheumatism  *  " 
I  asked  ;  "  I  am  not  sure  that  I  can  spare  it  unless  it  is 
going  to  effect  a  complete  cure." 

Makuba  assured  me  that  fried  chicken  was  the  specific 
for  his  kind  of  rheumatism.  And  he  was  right ;  for  it 
cured  him  completely.  We  had  a  successful  missionary 
tour,  Makuba  doing  extra  service  at  every  opportunity 
and  singing  as  he  held  the  helm. 

The  reader  will  understand,  therefore,  that  Onjoga, 
the  Fang  Christian,  a  man  of  middle  age,  and  of  real 
importance  in  his  town  and  tribe,  did  an  extraordinary 
thing  when  he  consented  to  cut  grass  that  he  might  stay 
at  Baraka  and  be  instructed  in  the  Christian  religion. 
He  was  distinctly  a  man  of  brains.  Before  I  left  Africa 
I  saw  him  stand  before  a  large  audience  and  read  a 
chapter  from  the  Gospel  of  Matthew ;  and  he  read  it 
well.  It  was  he,  by  the  way,  who,  after  one  of  our  mis- 
sionary tours,  first  gave  me  my  African  name,  Mote-Jce-ye: 
Man-who-never-sleeps. 

While  Onjoga  was  living  at  Baraka  I  often  took  him  as 
one  of  the  boat-crew  in  my  work  of  itinerating.  On  one 
occasion,  after  a  long  journey  and  a  futile  effort  to  reach 
a  certain  town  during  the  afternoon,  we  lost  our  way  ;  for 
there  was  a  network  of  small  rivers.  We  could  neither 
find  that  particular  town  nor  any  other.  Our  predica- 
ment became  serious  when  darkness  approached  and  the 
air  became  dense  with  mosquitoes.  At  length  we  espied 
a  canoe  in  the  distance  with  several  persons  in  it.  We 
pulled  as  fast  as  possible  in  order  to  overtake  them  ;  but 
they  evidently  thought  that  we  were  pursuing  them  and 
they  tried  to  escape  from  us.  Then  Onjoga,  rising  in  the 
boat  and  calling  to  them  as  loud  as  he  could  yell  (loud 
enough  to  be  heard  at  any  finite  distance)  told  them  that 


FETISHISM  AND  THE  CEOSS  261 

we  were  lost  and  that  we  would  like  to  go  with  them  to 
their  town  for  the  night.  Having  observed  my  helmet, 
they  knew  that  there  was  a  white  man  in  the  boat  and 
they  were  afraid,  and  refused  to  take  us  to  their  town ; 
for  the  French  had  recently  burned  some  of  their  towns. 
Oiijoga  assured  them  that  I  was  not  a  government  officer. 
Then  they  asked  who  I  was. 

Onjoga  shouted  back  :  "  He  is  a  missionary." 

Across  the  distance  came  the  question  :  ' '  What  is  a 
missionary?" 

Then  Onjoga,  shouting  with  all  the  strength  of  his 
powerful  lungs,  gave  them  an  outline  of  my  work,  a  brief 
character-sketch  of  myself,  and  a  rapid  synopsis  of  the 
Gospel  which  would  have  laid  the  world  under  last- 
ing obligation  if  I  could  have  preserved  it.  Much  to  my 
surprise  it  had  the  desired  effect.  They  waited  for  us  and 
took  us  to  their  town,  one  of  considerable  size  of  which  I 
had  not  before  known  the  existence.  We  spent  the 
night  there  and  preached  to  the  people.  In  the  evening, 
when  all  the  people  were  assembled,  one  of  their  own 
number  started  a  Fang  hymn  (one  that  I  had  translated) 
in  which  they  all  joined,  to  my  astonishment.  Then 
they  sang  another,  and  another.  The  explanation  was 
that  Ndong  Koni  had  frequently  visited  the  town  in 
order  to  teach  them. 

Onjoga's  wife,  Nze,  was  a  great  trial  to  him  after  he 
became  a  Christian.  At  length  he  told  me  that  he  was 
going  to  put  her  away  and  asked  me  to  come  to  his  town 
and  judge  the  palaver.  For  he  wished  me  to  know  that 
he  was  fully  justified.  I  went  to  his  town  and  held  a 
great  palaver  and  heard  many  witnesses.  I  listened  half 
a  day  to  the  very  unpleasant  story  of  Nze's  infidelity. 
Onjoga  said  that  he  did  not  care  so  much  about  it  before 
he  became  a  Christian,  but  now  it  was  revolting  to  him 
and  intolerable.  After  a  long  talk  with  Kze  I  asked  On- 


262     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

joga  to  take  her  back  once  more.  He  was  at  first  very 
unwilling.  I  said  : 

11 1  know  it  is  hard ;  but  she  promises  to  do  right  in  the 
future  ;  and  besides,  if  you  put  her  away  you  will  prob- 
ably marry  some  one  else  just  as  bad ;  for  they  are  all 
alike,  or  nearly  so."  This  was  before  there  were  any 
conversions  among  the  women. 

"  I  know  it,"  he  replied  ;  u  but  I  shall  procure  a  very 
young  wife  and  I  am  going  to  beg  you  to  take  her  to 
Baraka  and  raise  her  for  me." 

His  heart  was  so  set  upon  this  project  that  I  had  some 
difficulty  in  persuading  him  that  training  wives  for  other 
men  was  not  exactly  my  specialty. 

At  last  he  consented  to  take  Nze  back  once  more. 
11  But,"  he  said,  "  I  know  she  will  not  keep  her  promise." 

He  was  right.  It  was  only  a  little  while  until  Nze  was 
living  as  badly  as  ever.  He  put  her  away  and  remained 
single  for  some  time.  Then  he  married  a  woman  who  had 
become  a  Christian  under  his  teaching,  and  they  lived 
most  happily  together.  Shortly  before  I  left  Africa  I 
went  to  his  town  and  baptized  their  infant  daughter. 
That  service  is  still  a  sweet  memory. 

It  was  not  a  great  move  for  Nze.  She  married  a  man 
in  the  same  town  and  lived  next  door  to  Oujoga.  Onjoga 
was  a  natural  leader  of  men,  and  the  influence  of  his  life 
transformed  that  town.  Each  time  I  visited  him  he  told 
me  of  men  and  women  who  had  renounced  their  fetishes, 
together  with  their  cruelties  and  adulteries,  and  had  con- 
fessed the  Christian  faith.  But  the  last  time  I  visited  his 
town  he  came  walking  down  the  street  to  greet  me,  lead- 
ing by  the  hand  none  other  than  Nze,  whom  he  presented 
saying  :  "  She  is  now  a  Christian  ;  and  she  is  in  the  class 
that  I  am  teaching."  When  I  left  Africa  Nze  was  still  a 
faithful  member  of  Onjoga' s  class. 

He  was  a  man  of  evangelistic  fervour.     He  regarded 


FETISHISM  AND  THE  CROSS  263 

himself  as  a  debtor  to  all  his  people  to  make  known  the 
gospel  of  Christ  crucified,  which  was  always  the  burden 
of  his  preaching.  There  were  but  few  towns  on  the 
Gaboon  where  his  voice  was  not  heard.  Ndong  Koni  was 
gentle  and  winsome  ;  but  Onjoga  was  aggressive  and  force- 
ful. They  represented  extreme  types  ;  and  there  are 
other  types  among  the  Fang  equally  pronounced.  For 
Christ  lifted  up  upon  the  cross  draws  all  men  unto  Him. 
Oujoga's  own  town  instead  of  being  one  of  the  worst 
became  one  of  the  best  towns  on  the  Gaboon.  In  the 
early  days  when  I  first  visited  it  the  characteristic  sound 
which  greeted  me  as  I  approached  it  (usually  in  the  early 
night)  was  perhaps  the  bitter  cry  of  a  woman  who  was 
being  tortured  for  witchcraft ;  or  the  uncouth  howling  of 
a  leopard-man  whom  women  and  children  may  not  see 
lest  they  die ;  or  the  weird  wail  of  their  mourning  for  the 
dead  ;  or  the  noise  of  war-drums  and  the  savage  shouts  of 
warriors  who  were  keeping  an  expected  enemy  warned 
that  they  were  on  the  watch.  Such  were  the  sounds  that 
ascended  in  the  darkness  like  the  smoke  of  their  torment. 
A  few  years  later,  in  that  town  one  would  hear  every 
evening  at  a  regular  hour  the  people,  young  and  old, 
singing  hymns,  and  singing  them  as  they  ought  to  be 
sung,  from  the  heart.  Nor  was  there  any  cry  of  torture, 
nor  any  howl  of  a  leopard-man,  nor  beating  of  war- 
drums,  nor  any  other  sound  that  would  strike  fear  into 
the  heart  or  quench  the  laughter  of  children  at  play. 


XVI 

MISSIONS  AND  SOCIAL  PROGRESS 


r  I  "^HE  "untutored  child  of  nature"  whom  we  meet 
in  the  pages  of  Eousseau  and  Cooper,  the 

JL  "noble  savage"  of  sentimental  fiction,  is  not 
the  savage  of  missionary  literature. 

Henry  George,  while  repudiating  the  sentimental  view, 
contrasts  the  personal  independence  of  the  savage  with 
the  dependence  of  the  labourer  of  civilization  whose  skill 
is  specialized  until  his  labour  becomes  but  an  infinitesimal 
part  of  the  varied  processes  which  are  required  to  supply 
even  the  commonest  wants.  The  following  is  Mr. 
George's  attractive  picture  of  the  savage  : 

"  The  aggregate  produce  of  the  labour  of  a  savage  tribe 
is  small,  but  each  member  is  capable  of  an  independent 
life.  He  can  build  his  own  habitation,  hew  out  or  stitch 
together  his  own  canoe,  make  his  own  clothing,  manu- 
facture his  own  weapons,  snares,  tools  and  ornaments. 
He  has  all  the  knowledge  of  nature  possessed  by  his  tribe 
— knows  what  vegetable  productions  are  fit  for  food,  where 
they  may  be  found;  knows  the  habits  and  resorts  of 
beasts,  fishes  and  insects ;  can  pilot  himself  by  the  sun  or 
the  stars,  by  the  turning  of  blossoms  or  the  mosses  on  the 
trees ;  is  in  short  capable  of  supplying  all  his  wants.  He 
may  be  cut  off  from  his  fellows  and  still  live."  l 

This  personal  independence  is  a  fact  and  it  is  one  that 
appeals  strongly  to  the  imagination  of  those  who  see  the 
savage  at  a  distance  and  who  think  of  him  only  as  prim- 
itive, instead  of  savage.  His  state  seems  closely  akin 

Progress  and  Poverty,  p.  256. 

264 


to  that  social  condition,  described  by  an  ancient  poet, 
in  which  law,  commerce,  literature,  science  and  religion 
are  not  specialized,  but  implicit  in  the  daily  life  of  each 
individual.  Man  loves  the  exercise  of  liberty  for  its  own 
sake,  regardless  of  aim  and  consequence.  It  seems  to  be 
a  condition  of  manhood — of  moral  spontaneity  and  devel- 
opment. But  the  personal  independence  of  the  savage 
(when  we  see  him  not  with  the  imagination  but  with  the 
eyes)  is  the  expression  of  his  brute  selfishness.  Even  his 
wife  has  no  share  in  it ;  nor  anybody  else  if  he  can  help 
it  j  for  the  desire  for  liberty  is  but  a  step  from  the  desire 
for  power.  There  is  no  word  in  his  vocabulary  to  ex- 
press the  idea  of  justice.  And  when  we  pass  from  his 
social  condition  to  the  inward  man,  himself,  we  find  him 
the  victim  of  a  thousand  abject  fears  and  cruel  tyrannies 
that  enslave  him. 

Mr.  George  L.  Bates,  a  naturalist,  who  spent  several 
years  among  the  Fang  and  gave  me  both  sympathy  and 
assistance  in  missionary  work,  tells  a  story  of  a  Fang  feud, 
the  last  incident  of  which  took  place  a  few  months  before 
I  left  Africa.  I  repeat  the  story  told  by  Mr.  Bates,  al- 
most in  his  own  words  : 

Nzwi  Ainvam,  a  man  of  the  Esen  clan,  had  been  killed 
by  Bibane,  chief  of  the  Amvom  clan,  the  enemies  of  the 
Esen.  After  some  days  a  palaver  was  held  to  divide  the 
dead  man's  estate  and  decide  to  whom  his  seven  widows 
should  be  given.  These  seven  women  were  seated  on  the 
ground  in  the  middle  of  the  street,  while  the  assembled 
company,  a  miscellaneous  crowd  from  that  and  surround- 
ing villages,  were  seated  on  either  side  of  the  street  in  the 
shade  of  the  low  projecting  palm-leaf  roofs.  The  impor- 
tant men  of  the  clan  sat  in  the  open  palaver  house  at  the 
end  of  the  street.  After  much  oratory,  it  was  agreed  that 
Ngon,  eldest  son  of  Nzwi  Amvam,  should  receive  two  of 
his  father's  wives,  the  other  five  being  distributed  among 


266     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

the  near  relations.  Then  the  palaver  broke  up  to  be 
followed  in  the  evening  by  a  great  dance  with  much 
drumming. 

When  young  Ngon  lay  down  that  night  he  considered 
that  he  had  become  an  important  man.  Before  his  fa- 
ther's death  he  had  one  wife ;  now  he  had  three.  He 
had  also  received  from  his  father's  estate  a  store  of  iron 
rods  and  spearheads  sufficient  to  purchase  another  wife. 
And,  besides,  he  had  a  gun — the  only  one  in  his  town — 
which,  it  is  said,  had  come  from  the  land  of  white  men, 
beyond  the  great  sea.  He  was  in  a  fair  way  to  become  a 
great  man.  But  Ngon  was  not  happy.  He  was  thinking 
of  the  man  who  killed  his  father ;  he  was  thinking  of 
Bibane,  and  a  passion  stronger  than  the  desire  for  wealth 
and  greatness  took  possession  of  him.  He  felt  olun,  that 
is  shame,  grief,  rage,  an  intolerable  thirst  for  revenge — he 
felt  olun. 

Many  moons  Ngon  waited  his  opportunity.  Many 
times  he  had  his  men  conceal  themselves  along  the  for- 
est paths  that  led  to  the  village  of  the  Amvom  ;  but  the 
enemy  was  too  wary  for  them.  At  length,  the  day  came 
that  Ngon  levelled  his  gun  from  behind  a  tree  at  the  son 
of  his  enemy,  who  was  passing  alone  and  unsuspecting, 
and  sent  a  rude  fragment  of  an  iron  pot  tearing  into  his 
chest.  The  wound  was  mortal.  In  a  few  hours  they 
heard  the  wailing  of  the  women  of  old  Bibane' s  village. 
Then  the  death -drum  of  the  Amvom  boomed  through 
the  forest  and  Ngon  heard  it  with  fierce  delight.  The 
olun  was  removed  from  his  breast.  And,  besides,  he  was 
now  a  great  man  beyond  question,  for  he  had  killed  an 
enemy  with  his  own  hands. 

In  Ngon's  village,  however,  when  the  shouting  was 
over  they  reflected  that  Bibane  was  a  man  to  take  revenge 
with  interest ;  and  the  Amvom  were  a  powerful  clan.  It 
was  the  beginning  of  a  period  of  alarms.  Often  at  dead 


MISSIONS  AND  SOCIAL  PROGRESS      267 

of  uight  the  whole  town  was  terrorized  when  the  cry  was 
raised,  "The  Amvom  are  coming!"  For  many  moons 
the  women  never  went  to  the  plantations  except  when 
armed  men  went  before  and  behind  them  in  the  path. 
Ngon  himself  usually  headed  the  company.  He  also  kept 
strict  watch  of  the  gloomy  border  of  the  forest  surround- 
ing the  plantation  while  his  wives  dug  cassava  and  filled 
their  baskets,  or  cut  bunches  of  plantains  and  bananas  to 
carry  home.  But  as  time  passed  and  the  Amvom  did  not 
appear  Ngon  began  to  keep  less  strict  watch. 

One  day  his  most  faithful  wife,  young  Asangon,  went 
to  a  plantain  grove  under  her  care,  far  from  the  village, 
and  came  back  reporting  other  enemies  to  be  watched  be- 
sides the  Amvom.  The  plantain  stocks  were  twisted 
and  eaten  off  and  all  the  bushes  around  trodden  flat. 
Elephants  !  A  few  nights  and  their  depredations  would 
cause  famine  in  the  village.  So  with  some  of  his  young 
men,  Ngon  went  to  the  place,  built  a  booth  of  palm 
branches,  prepared  a  bed,  gathered  fuel  for  a  fire,  and  re- 
turned to  the  village.  At  dusk  he  set  out  for  the  plan- 
tain grove,  accompanied  by  his  wife,  Asangon,  and  their 
little  son,  whom  Asangon  carried  astride  her  right  hip, 
sitting  in  a  wide  strap  of  monkey-skin  which  was  slung 
over  her  shoulder.  Ngon  walked  ahead  with  his  gun  and 
a  gum  torch  lighted  to  show  the  way  and  to  frighten  evil 
spirits  in  the  dark  forest.  They  were  going  to  sleep  in 
the  booth  among  the  plantains  for  the  purpose  of  scaring 
away  the  elephants.  As  he  set  out  his  white-haired 
mother  cautioned  him  to  look  out  for  the  Amvom. 
"  They're  a  crafty  lot,"  she  said,  "and  want  to  cut  your 
throat  and  eat  you."  But  the  young  man  declared  that 
Bibane's  people  were  far  away  on  a  hunt. 

Four  nights  they  slept  among  the  plantains  and  scared 
the  elephants  away.  It  was  noticed  also  that  Asangon 
seemed  to  enjoy  going  out  thus,  and  spending  the  night 


268     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

with  only  her  husband  and  her  baby.  It  had  probably 
never  occurred  to  her  to  form  a  distinct  wish  to  be  Ngon's 
only  wife,  but  her  happiness  in  the  present  arrangement 
was  none  the  less  keen,  and  was  made  all  the  keener  by 
the  apprehension  that  it  would  not  last  long. 

The  fourth  morning,  as  they  went  through  a  bit  of  un- 
cleared forest,  suddenly  at  a  turn  in  the  path  a  spear 
whizzed  past  Ngon,  and  he  saw  among  the  trees  the  face 
of  Bibane  and  the  Amvom.  He  raised  his  gun  and 
pulled  the  trigger ;  but  the  white  man's  weapon  failed 
him  this  time.  The  powder  flashed  in  the  pan  and  that 
was  all.  At  the  same  moment  hearing  a  cry  behind  him, 
he  turned  to  see  his  little  son  pierced  with  the  spear  that 
had  missed  himself,  and  dying  in  his  mother's  arms. 
The  Amvom  sprang  out  upon  him ;  and  it  was  all  he 
could  do  to  break  from  them  and  escape  into  the  forest, 
leaving  his  wife  a  captive  and  his  son  dead.  It  was  now 
in  the  Esen  villages  that  the  wailing  was  heard  ;  while 
there  was  dancing  and  drumming  among  the  Amvom. 

But  Ngon  Nzwi  again  felt  olun.  In  the  dusk  of  the 
following  morning  while  the  people  were  still  in  their 
beds,  his  voice  was  heard  in  the  street,  rousing  them  from 
their  sleep. 

"People  of  this  village,"  he  cried,  "  descendants  of 
Ndong  Amvam,  who  first  came  from  the  east  and  founded 
this  settlement,  I  am  Ngon  Nzwi,  son  of  Nzwi  Amvam, 
son  of  Amvam  Ndong,  son  of  Ndong  Amvam  ;  I  am  head 
man  of  this  village.  Bibane  of  the  Amvom  killed  my 
father,  Nzwi  Amvam,  and  now  he  has  killed  my  child, 
captured  my  wife,  and  tried  to  take  my  own  life.  May 
that  man  of  the  family  of  Amvam  who  fails  to  help  me 
in  my  revenge  see  his  own  people  dead  corpses  !  And 
my  revenge  will  not  be  complete  until  I  have  eaten  the 
flesh  of  the  arm  that  threw  the  spear  yesterday." 

The  gruesome   threat  was   literally  fulfilled.     Many 


MISSIONS  AND  SOCIAL  PROGRESS      269 

seasons  passed  before  the  opportunity  came  ;  but  it  came 
at  last  and  the  dead  body  of  Bibaue  lay  at  his  feet.  His 
wives  knew  what  was  to  be  done  with  the  right  arm  and 
they  prepared  the  feast  for  Ngon.  Some  of  his  closest 
friends  joined  him  in  it,  but  there  was  no  dancing  or 
story-telling,  and  not  many  words  were  spoken  about  it 
by  his  people.  For  the  memory  of  it  weighed  upon  their 
spirits. 

The  personal  independence  of  the  savage  does  not  con- 
stitute the  simple  life  of  our  idealizing  imagination. 
There  still  are  foes  without  and  olun  within, — not  to 
speak  of  hostile  spirits  and  the  fear  of  witchcraft. 

Guizot  in  his  History  of  Civilization  defines  civilization 
as  progress,  the  progress  of  society,  and  the  progress  of 
individuals ;  the  melioration  of  the  social  system  and  the 
expansion  of  the  intellectual  and  moral  faculties  of  man. 
And  these  two  elements,  according  to  Guizot,  are  so  inti- 
mately connected  that  they  reciprocally  produce  one 
another.  When  we  speak  of  the  authority  of  example 
and  the  power  of  habit  we  admit,  perhaps  unconsciously, 
that  a  world  better  governed,  a  world  in  which  justice 
more  fully  prevails,  renders  man  himself  more  just. 

That  is  true ;  but  society  is  moralized  by  ideas  ;  and 
ideas  must  work  through  the  brains  and  the  arms  of  good 
and  brave  men.  Therefore  Christianity  addresses  itself 
primarily  to  the  individual ;  though  it  does  not  ignore 
social  conditions.  It  is  easier  to  love  men,  especially 
alien  men,  in  the  mass  than  to  love  them  individually. 
Rousseau,  it  is  said,  loved  mankind  but  hated  each  par- 
ticular man  ;  and  there  are  those  among  us  who  would  fight 
for  the  freedom  of  the  Negro  race  but  would  not  walk  a 
block  with  an  individual  Negro.  The  love  of  Jesus  is  an 
aggregate  of  individual  and  personal  loves.  It  was  one 
sheep  that  went  astray  whom  the  shepherd  followed  weary 
and  footsore  till  he  found  it ;  it  is  one  sinner  over  whose  re- 


270     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFKICA 

turn  there  is  joy  in  heaven.  The  missionary  is  first  of  all 
an  evangelist,  not  a  social  reformer.  Christianity  aims 
at  the  redemption  of  man,  first  in  his  individual  character, 
and  then  in  his  associate  life. 

Christianity  is  so  intricately  interwoven  with  our  own 
civilization,  its  influence  upon  our  characteristic  institu- 
tions is  so  subtle,  that  it  is  not  easy  to  say  where  its 
beneficence  begins  or  ends ;  and  many  among  us  are  con- 
stantly attributing  its  social  effects  to  other  causes.  But 
introduced  into  Africa  its  power  as  a  social  force  at  once 
becomes  obvious.  It  comes  in  contact  with  a  social  con- 
dition which  presents  the  extremest  contrast  to  that  of 
our  civilization,  a  condition  which  is  hostile  at  almost 
every  point  to  the  spirit  of  Christianity  and  that  has 
remained  unchanged  probably  for  ages ;  it  comes  as  an 
evangelistic  agency,  not  working  directly  for  social  re- 
forms; but  within  the  lifetime  of  one  man  society  is 
transformed  almost  beyond  recognition  by  the  abolish- 
ment of  social  evils,  the  implantation  of  institutions  of 
education  and  philanthropy,  and  the  beginning  of  all  that 
is  highest  and  best  in  our  civilization. 

Let  us  not  exaggerate  the  difference  between  civiliza- 
tion and  savagery.  It  is  always  necessary  to  check  the 
dramatic  instinct,  which  for  the  sake  of  a  telling  contrast 
would  set  the  worst  aspects  of  heathen  barbarism  over 
against  the  best  or  even  ideal  aspects  of  Christian  civiliza- 
tion. Civilization  is  still  far  from  perfect  and  savagery 
is  not  wholly  savage. 

The  interval  between  civilization  and  the  savage  state 
is  never  so  great  as  that  between  the  latter  and  an  animal 
state.  No  animal  uses  fire  ;  though  I  recall  that  Emin 
Pasha  declared  that  he  had  witnessed  a  procession  of 
African  monkeys  carrying  torches ; — but  we  didn't  see 
it.  No  animal  cooks  its  food  ;  no  animal  wears  clothing  ; 
no  animal  makes  either  tools  or  weapons ;  no  animal 


MISSIONS  AND  SOCIAL  PROGRESS      271 

breeds  other  animals  for  food  ;  no  animal  has  an  articu- 
late language.  Moreover  without  a  certain  degree  of 
order,  intelligence  and  justice,  human  society,  even  that 
of  the  savage,  could  not  continue  to  exist. 

But  one  going  from  America  to  Africa  is  impressed  only 
by  the  contrast ;  and  he  necessarily  reflects  upon  it  and 
seeks  to  define  it. 

The  first  contrast  between  civilized  society  and  that  of 
Africa  which  impresses  one  is  that  of  interdependence  and 
independence.  I  lived  very  simply  in  Africa,  and  yet  the 
whole  world  contributed  to  my  simple  fare.  On  my  table 
there  was  butter  from  Denmark,  milk  from  Switzerland, 
rice  from  India,  sugar  from  Cuba,  coffee  from  Brazil,  dates 
from  Arabia,  other  fruits  from  France  or  from  California, 
vegetables  from  England,  meats  from  America — and  so 
forth.  I  did  not  even  know  where  the  wheat  was  grown 
from  which  my  bread  was  made  ;  nor  whether  the  cattle 
that  supplied  beef  had  first  grazed  in  Argentina  or  on  the 
prairies  of  the  Canadian  Northwest.  It  was  the  same 
with  the  materials  and  furnishings  of  the  house  I  lived  in 
and  the  clothing  I  wore.  The  whole  world  contributes  to 
the  material  well-being  of  each  civilized  man.  In  con- 
trast to  this  the  native  African — before  conditions  are 
modified  by  civilization — supplies  all  his  own  needs. 
He  has  the  assistance  only  of  his  wife  and  he  could  dis- 
pense with  that.  The  entire  provision  for  his  material 
well-being  is  furnished  within  the  area  of  his  visible 
horizon  or  within  the  radius  of  an  hour's  walk  from  his 
village.  There  is  no  regular  buying  or  selling  and  no 
money. 

In  this  social  condition  men  are  very  much  alike,  and 
there  is  a  close  approximation  to  equality.  Each  man 
possesses  all  the  knowledge  of  his  tribe  and  can  do  what 
any  other  man  can  do  ;  there  is  no  "differentiation  of 
function,"  and  no  interdependence.  There  is  only  na- 


272     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

ture's  own  difference  of  male  and  female  ;  the  only  real 
society  is  that  of  the  family.  The  village  is  an  enlarged 
family  the  maximum  size  of  which  depends  upon  the 
necessity  of  combining  against  a  common  foe.  African 
society,  therefore,  beyond  the  family,  has  scarcely  more 
coherence  than  a  herd  of  gregarious  animals.  It  is  not 
an  organism  but  a  mere  aggregation  of  individuals. 

The  interdependence  of  civilization  is  largely  the  result 
of  man's  increasing  conquest  of  nature;  and  this  is  the 
next  contrast  between  civilized  society  and  that  of  Africa. 
The  difference  between  the  canoe  and  the  steamship  is 
typical.  Improved  means  of  transportation,  beginning 
with  the  use  of  steam,  has  made  possible  the  exchange  of 
products  between  remote  countries.  The  ever-increasing 
knowledge  of  nature,  resulting  in  mechanical  inventions, 
has  made  near  neighbours  of  the  nations.  We  read  the 
news  of  the  world  each  morning.  Money  contributed  in 
New  York  to-day  for  the  relief  of  a  famine  in  China  is 
distributed  there  to-morrow.  The  whole  world  is  em- 
braced in  our  daily  thought  and  interest.  The  African, 
unless  he  lives  by  a  river,  knows  nothing  of  the  world 
beyond  the  farthest  village  to  which  he  has  walked.  Not 
even  the  invention  of  the  wheel  has  reached  him.  The 
civilized  man  has  made  nature  supplement  himself ;  has 
made  himself  swifter  than  the  swiftest  of  animals  and 
stronger  than  the  strongest,  and  has  multiplied  a  thousand- 
fold the  product  of  his  labour.  In  order  to  disseminate 
the  benefits  of  this  increasing  conquest  of  nature  there 
arises  a  demand  for  skilled  labour  ;  and  upon  the  princi- 
ple that  a  man  can  do  but  one  thing  in  a  lifetime  and  do 
it  well,  different  classes  appear,  performing  different 
functions  in  the  social  body,  dependent  upon  one  another 
as  the  various  organs  of  the  body  depend  upon  one  an- 
other, and  society  becomes  an  organism  developing  from 
simplicity  to  complexity. 


MISSIONS  AND  SOCIAL  PROGKESS      273 

The  intellectual  development  of  the  civilized  man  as  com- 
pared with  the  savage — his  knowledge  of  the  world  in 
which  he  lives,  and  of  man  himself — his  science  and 
philosophy,  his  refining  enjoyments  of  literature  and 
music — all  that  is  embraced  in  education  creates  even  a 
greater  difference  than  that  of  material  well-being.  As 
steam  and  electricity  have  annihilated  space  so  the  print- 
ing-press has  annihilated  time.  The  knowledge  and  the 
wisdom  of  the  past  are  recorded  for  our  benefit.  A.  pigmy 
standing  on  a  giant's  shoulders  (Macaulay  observes)  can 
see  further  than  the  giant ;  and  a  schoolboy  of  our  times 
knows  more  astronomy  than  Galileo.  Each  generation 
stands  upon  the  shoulders  of  the  preceding  generation. 
There  is  nothing  in  any  way  corresponding  to  this  in 
Africa.  There  is  no  increase  of  knowledge  and  no  ex- 
panding intelligence.  The  intellectual  stagnation,  the 
stifling  mental  torpor  of  an  African  community  must  be 
experienced  in  order  to  be  realized. 

Another  striking  difference  between  America  and 
Africa  is  the  authority  of  custom  in  Africa,  and  its  result- 
ing social  immobility.  Eeturning  to  America  after  only 
a  few  years  in  Africa  one  is  surprised  and  somewhat  be- 
wildered by  the  changes  that  have  taken  place.  It  takes 
considerable  time  to  adjust  oneself  to  altered  conditions. 
In  Africa  there  is  no  trace  of  any  change  in  customs,  or 
any  alteration  of  methods,  from  time  immemorial.  Con- 
duct, even  in  its  details,  is  governed  by  custom.  Nobody 
questions  its  authority  ;  nobody  violates  it.  The  appeal 
to  custom  is  final. 

For  instance,  the  rite  of  circumcision  is  universally 
practiced  and  rigidly  regarded,  but  nobody  knows  why. 
There  may  be  a  good  reason  for  it — I  believe  there  is — 
but  they  have  forgotten  it.  Or,  to  give  an  example  of  its 
authority  even  in  trivialities,  the  slavers  in  the  old  days 
trained  the  men  of  the  Kru  tribe  to  work  on  ships  and 


274:     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFE1CA 

thereafter  finding  them  useful  allies  persuaded  them  to 
put  a  distinguishing  mark  upon  themselves  so  that  none 
of  them  might  be  taken  and  enslaved  by  mistake.  The 
mark  is  a  tattooed  baud  running  down  the  middle  of  the 
forehead  to  the  tip  of  the  nose.  With  the  suppression  of 
the  slave-trade  the  usefulness  of  this  ugly  disfigurement 
of  course  became  obsolete  ;  but  the  fashion  was  meanwhile 
established  and  to  this  day  every  Kruman  is  thus  tattooed. 
He  has  forgotten  its  origin.  If  you  ask  him  the  reason 
for  this  mark  he  thinks  that  he  gives  a  perfect  explana- 
tion when  he  says :  "  It  be  fashion  for  we  country."  To 
ask  him  the  reason  for  the  custom  is  equivalent  to  asking 
why  right  is  right.  The  finality  of  the  appeal  to  custom 
is  like  our  appeal  to  the  ten  commandments.  Of  course 
the  authority  of  custom  in  Africa  serves  to  check  per- 
sonal tyranny  and  to  modify  the  principle  that  might  is 
right.  It  thus  prevents  society  from  going  backward  ;  but 
it  also  prevents  it  from  going  forward  ;  a  thousand  years 
are  as  a  day.  Mobility  is  a  condition  of  progress. 

A  more  radical  difference  between  the  civilized  man 
and  the  African  than  any  we  have  yet  mentioned  is  that 
of  ivork.  It  is  not  merely  a  contrast  between  actual  work 
and  idleness,  but  a  contrast  of  attitudes  that  constitutes 
this  difference.  "Use,  labour  of  each  for  all,"  says 
Emerson,  "is  the  health  and  virtue  of  all  beings.  Ich 
dien,  I  serve,  is  a  truly  royal  motto.  And  it  is  the  mark 
of  nobleness  to  volunteer  the  lowest  service,  the  greatest 
spirit  only  attaining  to  humility.  Nay,  God  is  God,  be- 
cause He  is  the  servant  of  all.  .  .  .  All  honest  men 
are  daily  striving  to  earn  their  bread  by  their  industry. 
And  who  is  this  who  tosses  his  empty  head  at  this  bless- 
ing in  disguise,  and  calls  labour  vile,  and  insults  the 
workman  at  his  daily  toil  ?  " 

This  is  everywhere  the  sentiment  of  the  truly  civilized 
man.  He  may  be  lazy  but  he  still  recognizes  the  dignity 


MISSIONS  AND  SOCIAL  PROGRESS      275 

of  labour.  But  the  African  recognizes  only  the  dignity 
of  idleness  and  deems  it  the  true  badge  of  superiority. 
Work  is  not  so  obnoxious  to  his  laziness  as  it  is  to  his 
self-respect.  It  is  the  brand  of  inferiority.  It  is  not 
exertion  that  he  hates  :  he  exerts  himself  in  war  and  in 
hunting.  It  is  when  work  assumes  the  form  of  serv- 
ice that  it  offends  him.  Manhood,  he  believes,  consists 
in  self-assertion  as  contrasted  with  self-sacrifice.  His 
ideal  is  not  to  minister  but  to  be  niiuistered  unto. 
Therefore  work  is  relegated  to  women,  who  are  weaker 
and  cannot  resist  the  imposition. 

It  is  only  necessary  to  point  out  one  more  difference 
between  Africa  and  civilization  ;  and  in  this  last,  it  seems 
to  me,  we  have  before  us  the  difference  that  is  really 
fundamental :  it  is  trustworthiness. 

Civilization  depends  upon  this  quality  in  men.  To  the 
entire  social  structure  of  civilization  each  individual  con- 
tributes strength  or  weakness  according  to  his  trust- 
worthiness. In  New  York  it  has  sometimes  been  found, 
upon  investigation,  that  in  the  steel  frame  of  certain  high 
buildings  many  of  the  rivet  holes  were  filled  with  soap 
and  putty  instead  of  rivets.  In  the  same  city  not  long 
ago,  in  the  family  of  a  prominent  physician,  the  maid 
who  had  the  care  of  the  children  went  calling  on  a  friend 
and  found  that  in  the  friend's  home  there  was  scarlet 
fever.  The  maid  considered  only  that  she  had  already  had 
scarlet  fever  and  was  therefore  safe  from  it.  So  she  made 
the  call,  but  she  carried  the  fever  back  to  the  physician's 
home  and  his  children  died  from  it.  Such  exceptions 
prove  the  rule,  namely,  that  trustworthiness  is  the  social 
cement  of  civilization. 

A  Fang  village  of  a  hundred  persons  can  hold  together 
constituting  a  society  ;  but  as  soon  as  it  grows  to  a  group 
of  about  two  hundred  it  goes  to  pieces  and  forms  new  vil- 
lages. The  men  of  the  smaller  village  are  more  closely 


related,  are  brothers,  and  affection,  a  sentiment  of  brother- 
hood, insures  a  certain  amount  of  honesty  in  their  mutual 
relations.  As  the  relationship  widens  this  sentiment 
weakens  and  distrust  takes  the  place  of  confidence.  And 
the  worst  of  it  is  that  they  distrust  each  other  because 
they  really  know  each  other  ;  because  they  are  untrust- 
worthy. Distrust  is  the  dissolution  of  society. 

Some  years  ago  at  Batanga  the  white  traders  introduced 
a  "trust  system,"  whereby  a  quantity  of  goods  were  en- 
trusted to  a  native,  that  he  might  go  to  the  interior  and 
trade  with  the  expectation  of  paying  for  the  goods  with 
ivory  or  other  trade  produce  upon  his  return  to  the  coast. 
This  simple  arrangement  was  regarded  by  the  trader  as 
extremely  satisfactory.  He  charged  enormous  prices  in 
ivory  for  his  goods,  and  besides — theoretically — he  got 
the  ivory,  which  otherwise  was  difficult  to  procure.  He 
did  not  worry  about  the  payment ;  for  the  German 
governor,  being  an  obliging  gentleman,  and  wishing  to 
stimulate  trade,  threatened  long  imprisonment  and  lavish 
flogging  to  any  and  every  native  who  should  betray  his 
trust ;  who,  for  instance,  would  spend  the  goods  in  buying 
a  number  of  wives  for  the  time  being,  in  giving  large 
presents  to  all  his  relations,  or  in  making  merry  with  the 
whole  community  and  wasting  his  substance  in  riotous 
living.  The  iron  hand  of  the  Kaiser  would  prevent  all 
that,  and  the  trust-system  would  soon  make  Batanga  a 
centre  of  commerce  and  civilization.  Of  course  all  the 
enterprising  young  natives  hurried  to  get  goods  that  they 
did  not  have  to  pay  for  until  some  other  time,  realizing 
only  the  foolishness  of  worrying  about  the  future,  and 
that  possession  is  ten-tenths  of  the  law  in  Africa. 

"Well,  after  a  great  while  they  all  came  back  accom- 
panied by  the  Kaiser's  soldiers.  When  the  old  matter  of 
the  goods  was  mentioned  to  them  and  a  longing  for  ivory 
was  expressed,  the  response  was  uniform  :  "  Dem  goods  ? 


MISSIONS  AND  SOCIAL  PROGRESS      277 

Dem  goods  you  done  give  rue  ?  Why,  mastah,  all  dem 
goods  done  loss." 

At  the  very  earnest  appeal  of  the  missionaries,  rein- 
forced by  the  limited  capacity  of  the  jail  at  Kribi,  a  law 
was  finally  passed  abolishing  the  trust-system  in  that  par- 
ticular form. 

It  was  not  fair.  The  poor  native's  sense  of  moral 
responsibility  was  unequal  to  the  demand  made  upon  it. 
For  the  same  reason  a  high  form  of  civilization  cannot  be 
superimposed  upon  a  morally  degraded  people.  Their 
moral  responsibility  would  not  be  equal  to  its  demands  ; 
it  would  bear  too  hard  upon  them  even  as  upon  children  j 
it  would  crush  them. 

In  thus  recording  the  successive  contrasts  between 
civilization  and  the  savage  state,  I  am  not  conscious  of 
exploiting  a  theory,  but  have  rather  recorded  the  differ- 
ences that  impressed  me  in  the  course  of  actual  experi- 
ence in  Africa ;  and  I  have  recorded  them  somewhat  in 
the  order  of  their  importance,  passing  from  outward  and 
manifest  differences  to  those  that  are  less  obvious  and 
more  fundamental.  But  we  find  that  we  have  gradually 
passed  from  social  conditions  to  individual  qualities  and 
that  the  fundamental  difference  is  personal  character. 

A  short  time  after  the  organization  of  a  church  among 
the  Fang,  the  Ayol  Church,  I  held  a  communion  service 
in  which  about  sixty  persons,  some  of  them  from  distant 
towns,  sat  together  at  the  "Lord's  Table."  Let  the 
reader  imagine  himself  at  that  service  with  me  ;  and  let 
us  consider  briefly  the  social  energy  of  the  new  moral 
forces  represented  by  that  service. 

The  very  first  thing  that  we  observe  in  contrast  to  the 
surrounding  heathenism  is  that  both  men  and  women  are 
partaking  together  of  this  symbolic  feast.  The  Fang 
man  does  not  eat  with  his  wife  ;  so  here  immediately  a 
custom  is  violated  and  the  equality  of  woman  is  recog- 


278     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

nized.  This  same  principle  has  abolished  polygamy,  and 
there  is  not  a  polygamist  at  this  table.  The  authority  of 
custom  in  its  chief  stronghold  is  challenged  and  over- 
thrown by  a  divine  law  that  judges  all  customs,  however 
ancient,  and  which  is  henceforth  the  highest  authority. 
The  sacred  institution  of  the  family  is  purified.  It  is 
not  by  ecclesiastical  enactment  that  polygamy  is 
abolished  ;  the  enactment  would  be  ineffective  but  for 
the  higher  estimate  of  woman  which  Christianity  has 
introduced  by  exalting  those  qualities  in  which  she 
especially  excels,  and  establishing  a  mutual  relation  as 
incompatible  with  polygamy  as  with  polyandry. 

"We  also  observe  that  these  sixty  persons  represent 
many  various  clans  of  the  Fang,  and  even  different 
tribes,  for  there  are  two  Mpongwe  women  present.  The 
heathen  Mpongwe  despise  the  Fang.  And  between  the 
different  clans  of  the  Fang  themselves  there  are  ancient 
feuds  and  relentless  hatreds.  But  the  very  meaning  of 
this  service  is  fellowship. 

The  heathen  Fang  have  no  salutation,  and  need  none  ; 
their  instinct  is  to  hide  rather  than  to  meet.  But  the 
people  who  meet  at  this  service  salute  each  other  with 
the  word  monejang — brother,  or  sister.  And  they  did  not 
learn  this  salutation  from  me ;  for  I  had  never  used  it 
thus  ;  but  where  the  Spirit  of  Christ  is,  there  is  the 
instinct  of  brotherhood.  This  Christian  society,  there- 
fore, although  scattered  far  and  wide,  and  having  no 
material  interests  in  common,  is  yet  drawn  together  by 
an  invisible  bond  which  is  already  stronger  than  all  the 
disintegrating  forces  of  the  savage  state.  When  the  pop- 
ulation of  a  Fang  village  reaches  the  number  of  two  hun- 
dred its  dissolution  is  imminent.  Bat  each  member  of 
this  Christian  society  has  pledged  himself  to  the  conver- 
sion of  others  ;  and  as  the  society  grows  its  coherence  in- 
creases. 


MISSIONS  AND  SOCIAL  PROGRESS      279 

In  their  worship  also,  as  well  as  in  their  fellowship,  we 
find  certain  principles  of  social  energy.  Their  view  of 
God  and  of  the  world  makes  possible  the  conquest  of 
nature,  which  is  the  basis  of  our  material  civilization. 
These  men  and  women  have  all  parted  with  their 
fetishes.  That  means  that  they  have  defied  the  multitude 
of  evil  spirits  in  whom  they  once  believed  and  have 
definitely  committed  themselves  to  faith  in  one  God,  the 
Father  of  all,  in  whom  mankind  are  brothers. 

But  it  means  more  than  this.  The  spirits  of  evil  in 
whom  they  believed  were  localized  in  the  objects  of 
nature  and  to  their  presence  all  natural  phenomena  were 
due.  Nature  was  therefore  lawless  and  hostile.  But 
these  demons  have  all  been  cast  out  by  the  presence  and 
power  of  God  in  nature.  They  now  thank  Him  for  the 
fruitfulness  of  their  gardens  and  they  pray  to  Him  in  the 
midst  of  the  storm.  One  mind,  a  divine  intelligence, 
presides  over  nature  and  the  world  is  not  run  by  magic, 
but  governed  by  law.  They  do  not  comprehend  the  full 
content  of  their  faith  j  neither  do  we.  But  they  are 
fundamentally  right  and  education  will  do  the  rest. 
They  already  have  that  knowledge  upon  which  the  con- 
quest of  nature  depends. 

We  observe  that  many  of  those  present  in  this  service 
have  books.  The  books  are  the  Gospel  of  Matthew  and 
the  book  of  Genesis,  which  have  been  translated  into 
their  own  language — the  first  Fang  books.  Nearly  all 
the  younger  persons  present  and  some  of  those  who  are 
old  have  learned  to  read  that  they  might  read  these 
books.  \Ve  are  never  quite  prepared  for  the  thirst  for 
knowledge,  the  intellectual  awakening,  incident  to  their 
spiritual  birth.  They  live  in  a  new  world ;  they  are 
citizens  of  a  world-wide  kingdom  and  they  want  to  know 
all  about  it.  Poor  as  they  are  they  will  soon  be  giving 
of  their  slender  means  for  the  spread  of  the  Gospel 


among  people  whom  they  have  never  seen.  "We  are 
bound  to  respond  to  this  desire  for  knowledge  and  to  en- 
courage it  to  the  utmost.  Education  is  not  a  mere  ex- 
pedient by  which  the  missionary  obtains  the  good-will  of 
the  people  and  secures  a  hearing  for  the  Gospel ;  it  is  a 
demand  created  by  the  Gospel  itself  and  henceforth  the 
necessary  adjunct  of  evangelistic  work.  Many,  like 
myself,  have  gone  to  Africa  intent  upon  evangelistic 
work,  and  before  long  have  chosen  to  spend  most  of  their 
time  in  the  schoolroom. 

Again,  in  this  service,  they  celebrate,  in  the  death  of 
Christ,  a  self-sacrificing  service ;  and  to  this  same  spirit  of 
self-sacrifice  as  against  self-assertion,  they  all  are  solemnly 
pledged.  This  attitude  of  mutual  service  is  another 
strong  factor  of  coherence.  It  constitutes  not  only  the 
best  society  possible,  but  also  the  most  progressive,  and 
it  is,  for  our  purpose,  especially  significant  in  that  it  im- 
plies an  altered  attitude  towards  work.  They  still  have 
to  contend  with  natural  laziness,  but  they  are  no  longer 
the  victims  of  a  false  ideal.  Service  is  not  a  disgrace, 
but  a  duty. 

In  the  organization  represented  in  this  service,  as  well 
as  in  its  fellowship  and  its  worship,  we  shall  find  princi- 
ples of  social  progress ;  we  shall  find  this  Christian 
society  a  model  of  organization  for  all  the  social  institu- 
tions and  native  governments  that  progress  may  in  the 
future  demand. 

Guizot,  speaking  of  legitimacy  in  government,  says  : 

"  The  conditions  of  legitimacy  are  the  same  in  the  gov- 
ernment of  a  religious  society  as  in  all  others.  They 
may  be  reduced  to  two  :  the  first  is,  that  authority  should 
be  placed  and  constantly  remain,  as  effectually  at  least 
as  the  imperfection  of  all  human  affairs  will  permit,  in 
the  hands  of  the  best,  the  most  capable ;  so  that  the  le- 
gitimate superiority,  which  lies  scattered  in  various  parts 


MISSIONS  AND  SOCIAL  PROGRESS      281 

of  society,  may  be  thereby  drawn  out,  collected  and  del- 
egated to  discover  the  social  law, — to  exercise  its  author- 
ity. The  second  is  that  the  authority  thus  legitimately 
constituted  should  respect  the  legitimate  liberties  of  those 
whom  it  is  called  to  govern.  A  good  system  for  the 
formation  and  organization  of  authority,  a  good  system 
of  securities  for  liberty,  are  the  two  conditions  in  which 
the  goodness  of  government  resides,  whether  civil  or  re- 
ligious. And  it  is  by  this  standard  that  all  should  be 
judged." 

And  to  this  standard  the  government  of  this  mission 
church  conforms.  The  two  elders  who  officiate  in  this 
service  have  been  chosen  by  the  members  of  the  church 
themselves,  and  for  no  reason  whatever  except  their 
moral  worth  and  wisdom.  One  of  the  elders  is  Mb'  Obam, 
a  noted  chief,  a  man  of  wide  influence  even  among  the 
heathen.  The  other,  Okeh,  is  in  all,  except  moral  worth, 
the  opposite  extreme  from  Mb' Obam ;  diminutive  and 
weak  in  body,  he  is  useless  for  war  and  non-combative  in 
disposition,  the  kind  of  a  man  whom  the  heathen  de- 
spise and  ridicule — but  so  kind,  so  pure  in  heart,  so  hum- 
ble, that  none  was  more  worthy  to  be  exalted  and  these 
Christians  proved  themselves  by  their  perception  of  his 
worth.  The  progress  of  this  African  community,  implied 
in  the  choice  of  such  a  one  as  Okeh  for  leader,  has  leaped 
across  uncounted  centuries. 

The  man  whom  the  Mpongwe  church  has  recognized 
as  pastor  for  many  years — though  he  was  never  ordained 
—was  born  a  slave.  The  place  of  highest  authority  is 
attainable  to  those  in  every  rank  ;  no  class  is  especially 
privileged ;  no  privileges  are  hereditary ;  there  is  no 
such  thing  as  caste  within  this  society  ;  and  therefore  it 
is  more  likely  to  be  progressive  and  not  stationary.  In 
short,  superiority,  wherever  found,  is  recognized,  drawn 
out,  and  invested  with  authority  to  govern. 


282     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

For  the  security  of  liberty  it  is  only  needful  to  mention 
the  Bible,  the  authoritative  word,  to  which  all  have  equal 
access.  But  there  is  another  factor.  This  government 
uses  no  force.  It  declares  that  temporal  and  spiritual 
authority  are  essentially  different  and  must  be  kept  for- 
ever separate  ;  that  physical  force  has  rightful  authority 
only  over  the  actions  of  men,  but  never  over  the  mind  or 
its  convictions.  This  declaration  of  the  liberty  of  con- 
science is  the  parent  of  civil  and  political  liberty. 

It  is  difficult  for  the  American,  accustomed  to  the  sep- 
aration of  spiritual  and  temporal  power,  to  realize  the 
utter  confusion  in  the  African  mind — and  in  heathen 
minds  elsewhere — of  moral  authority  and  physical  force. 
Tyranny  is  the  inevitable  consequence  of  this  confusion. 
It  is  easy  to  object  that  Europe  at  one  period  in  her  his- 
tory had  to  contend  against  the  Church  itself  for  this  very 
principle  of  separation  and  the  liberty  of  conscience 
which  it  involves.  But  at  an  earlier  period,  it  was  the 
Church  which  first  instructed  Europe  in  this  principle  by 
insisting  upon  the  separation  of  the  two  authorities,  and 
which  implanted  the  idea  of  liberty  ;  and  when  it  became 
obscured  it  was  by  rebellion  within  the  Church  that  it 
was  recovered.  The  Church  is  not  repeating  on  the  field 
of  missions  the  mistakes  of  its  history  in  Europe ;  and 
therefore  as  a  social  force  it  progresses  with  accelerated 
velocity. 

Such  then  are  the  forces  of  social  progress  which  are 
inherent  in  this  Christian  society,  forces  which  are  alto- 
gether new  and  strange  in  Africa,  forces  which  place  this 
society  in  the  line  of  continuous  and  indefinite  progress 
towards  civilization. 

Already  we  may  see  the  beginning  of  civilization  in 
material  things.  The  first  thing  that  emerges  from  the 
inchoate  society  is  the  home.  I  have  already  spoken  of 
the  abolishment  of  polygamy  ;  but  a  home  also  implies  a 


MISSIONS  AND  SOCIAL  PROGRESS      283 

house.  The  houses  of  a  Fang  village  are  built  on  either 
side  of  one  narrow  street,  under  one  continuous  roof,  and. 
consist  of  a  single  room  separated  from  the  next  dwell- 
iug  by  a  half  open  bamboo  partition.  But  the  Christian 
wants  a  better  house,  because  he  is  a  better  man.  It  is 
noticeable  that  the  Christian  man  separates  himself  from 
this  common  village  life  and  builds  a  single  house  of  sev- 
eral rooms  for  himself  and  his  family.  All  Christians  do 
not  immediately  do  so ;  but  the  tendency  is  sufficiently 
marked  to  insure  the  certainty  that  the  idea  of  the  home 
will  prevail.  These  better  houses  have  windows,  and 
doors  on  hinges,  and  sometimes  even  a  board  floor. 
There  is  therefore  a  demand  for  carpenters  and  other 
skilled  workmen.  Here  is  where  the  industrial  school 
responds  to  an  exigent  need  and  is  both  an  adjunct  and 
a  direct  result  of  evangelization.  Here  also  is  the  begin- 
ning of  a  division  of  labour  and  that  interdependence 
which  characterizes  civilization. 

The  Fang  Christians  are  all  clothed  ;  for  decency  is  a 
Christian  instinct.  The  cloth  which  they  now  wear  is 
imported  from  England  and  America.  They  pay  for  it 
with  the  produce  of  their  gardens.  For  this  purpose  they 
raise  more  than  they  need  for  their  own  consumption. 
Their  gardens  are  therefore  much  larger  than  they  used 
to  be,  and  both  men  and  women  work  in  them.  Having 
better  clothing  they  must  take  care  of  it ;  therefore  they 
want  to  sit  on  chairs,  instead  of  on  the  ground.  Neither 
can  they  keep  their  clothing  decently  clean  if  they  eat 
their  food  with  their  hands.  Knives  and  forks  and  plates 
and  tables  are  soon  added  to  the  household  furnishings. 
One  thing  demands  another ;  each  added  comfort  re- 
quires more  work.  Those  men  now  expend  in  produc- 
tive labour  the  energy  which  they  formerly  wasted  in 
conflict. 

Such  is  the  general  course  of  development  towards  a 


284     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

social  community  having  intercourse  with  the  civilized 
world  ;  receiving  much,  and  adding  its  increment  to  the 
material  welfare  of  the  race  and  the  sum  of  happiness. 

All  the  constitutive  elements  of  civilization  may  be 
summed  up  in  two  things  :  a  condition  of  interdependence 
in  material  things,  and  a  sentiment  of  human  brother- 
hood. But  we  have  seen  that  the  progressive  interde- 
pendence of  civilization  is  based  upon  an  increasing 
knowledge  of  nature,  and  that  this  knowledge  of  nature 
becomes  possible  to  the  African  through  the  Christian 
view  of  God  and  the  world.  We  have  seen  that  faith  in 
Christ  effects  a  mental  and  moral  regeneration  of  the 
individual  from  which  springs  a  sentiment  of  brother- 
hood and  spirit  of  mutual  trust  which  is  the  coherence  of 
society  without  which  it  becomes  a  heap  of  sand.  The 
saying  is  reasonable,  therefore,  that  civilization  is  but  the 
secular  side  of  Christianity ;  and  all  the  good  which 
social  progress  comprehends  is  embodied  in  the  prayer 
which  these  Fang  Christians  unitedly  offer :  Ayong  dia 
nzdk — Thy  kingdom  come. 

Commerce  and  government  in  our  day  are  making  the 
claim  that  they  are  the  all-sufficient  forces  of  civilization 
throughout  the  world.  But  however  much  they  have 
accomplished  that  is  beneficial,  we  cannot  forget  the  evils 
which  have  attached  to  them ;  that  in  Africa  and  else- 
where commerce  is  responsible  for  the  sale  of  rum  and  for 
other  evils  as  degrading ;  and  that  government  by  the 
civilized  powers,  despite  such  grandiloquent  phrases  as 
"the  onward  march  of  civilization,"  has  consisted  very 
much  in  taking  territory  from  those  to  whom  it  belonged, 
because,  forsooth,  "they  have  a  darker  complexion  or  a 
flatter  nose."  Both  commerce  and  government  are  in- 
valuable adjuncts  of  Christianity  ;  but  it  has  within  itself 
the  potentialities  of  both. 

That  prayer,  Thy  Kingdom  Come,  is  being  offered  daily 


MISSIONS  AND  SOCIAL  PROGRESS      285 

in  every  land  and  in  every  language  of  the  world  and 
everywhere  it  has  the  same  meaning.  It  means  that  all 
those  who  sincerely  offer  it,  however  great  the  contrast 
of  their  history  and  traditions,  are  a  community,  united 
by  the  stronger  bonds  of  aims  and  ideals.  It  means  that 
they  have  a  vision  of  a  united  race  of  mankind  ;  a  vision 
of  all  nations  drawn  into  one  common  brotherhood  in 
commerce,  government  and  religion,  and  that  they  believe 
in  the  abounding  adequacy  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ  for  its 
realization.  Society  resounds  with  the  cry  of  the  op- 
pressed and  the  dissonance  of  human  passion  ;  but  still 
they  cherish  the  vision  of  unity  and  peace ;  and  they 
believe  that  this  kingdom  of  God  is  the  end  towards  which 
all  social  progress  moves. 


XVII 
THE  CRITICS 

ELSEWHEBE  I  have  represented  the  climate  as  the 
theme  of  the  Old  Coaster  whom  the  voyager  meets 
after  leaving  Liverpool,  or  some  other  European 
port,  for  West  Africa.  He  makes  free  use  of  all  the 
adjectives  that  have  usually  been  appropriated  to  the 
characterization  of  sin  and  death. 

But  I  may  not  have  said  that  the  Old  Coaster  has  what 
musicians  call  a  sub-theme.  His  sub-theme  is  Missions. 
The  unity  of  his  conversation  is  secured  by  the  use  of  the 
same  adjectives.  If  the  missionary  is  coddled  at  home 
or  foolishly  praised,  the  severe  and  relentless  criticism  to 
which  he  is  subjected  after  leaving  Europe  may  be  re- 
garded as  a  providential  discipline.  According  to  the 
Old  Coaster  every  evil  that  infests  West  Africa  is  due 
directly  or  indirectly  to  the  missionary.  I  have  heard 
him  blamed  for  the  Belgian  atrocities  of  the  Congo,  and 
for  the  Hut  Tax  War  of  Sierra  Leone,  and  even  for 
the  fatality  of  the  climate.  For,  it  is  said,  everybody 
knows  that  it  is  not  malaria  but  quinine  that  kills  the 
white  man  in  Africa;  the  belief  in  quinine  is  simply 
fatuous,  and  its  use  is  criminal ;  and  the  missionary  alone 
is  responsible.  Burn,  which  is  the  only  protection  against 
malaria,  would  keep  the  traders  alive,  but  sooner  or  later, 
following  the  example  of  the  missionary,  they  take  quinine 
and  die. 

These  criticisms  serve  to  while  away  the  time,  and  do 
no  harm  unless  there  should  be  on  board  a  smart  traveller 
who  is  bent  upon  learning  all  about  Africa  from  the  deck 

286 


THE  CRITICS  287 

of  a  steamer  and  then  giving  his  knowledge  to  the  world 
in  a  book.  The  Old  Coaster  (and  the  name  often  includes 
the  captain  and  officers  of  the  ship)  is  obsessed  with  the 
desire  to  impart  information.  The  missionary  has  maga- 
zines through  which  his  voice  is  heard :  but  the  smart 
traveller  is  the  Old  Coaster's  opportunity  and  he  makes 
the  best  of  it  and  pours  forth  a  volume  of  misinformation 
sufficient  to  fill  the  most  capacious  mental  vacuum.  The 
Old  Coaster  thus  employed  is  not  more  than  half  mali- 
cious. He  sometimes  winks  at  a  missionary  standing 
by,  as  much  as  to  say  :  "  The  joke's  on  you."  He  gen- 
erally divides  missionaries  into  two  classes,  deliberate 
impostors  and  well-meaning  fools,  generously  assuming 
that  the  missionary  present  belongs  to  the  latter  class,  so 
that  the  relation  of  good-fellowship  on  board  is  not  neces- 
sarily disturbed  by  the  anti-missionary  acrimony. 

One  of  these  travelling  critics  was  so  wrought  upon  by 
the  reported  misdoings  of  missionaries  and  their  destruc- 
tive influence  upon  the  religion  and  the  morals  of  the 
natives  that  before  he  reached  the  Congo  he  went  clean 
crazy — as  witness  the  following  from  his  book  :  "  What 
religious  furies  with  unholy  rage  have  demolished  those 
weird  gods,  and  disturbed  fervent  but  unobtruding  piety 
in  the  exercise  of  its  duties?"  It  may  have  been  the 
result  of  going  ashore  without  an  umbrella.  I  never 
heard  whether  this  man  recovered ;  but  let  travellers 
take  warning  and  not  trifle  with  the  dangers  of  the  coast 
and  the  Old  Coaster. 

One  is  impressed  by  the  bewildering  inconsistency  of 
the  criticisms,  so  contradictory  that  if  all  were  published 
no  further  answer  would  be  necessary  than  to  cite  critic 
against  critic.  The  more  numerous  class  of  critics  con- 
tend that  the  native  is  so  morally  inferior  that  he  cannot 
be  improved ;  and  a  profession  of  Christian  faith  only 
adds  to  his  heathen  vices  a  more  disgusting  hypocrisy. 


288     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

The  other  class  of  critics,  less  numerous,  but  more  intelli- 
gent and  reputable,  contend,  on  the  contrary,  that  the 
native  is  all  right  as  he  is,  his  pristine  morality  becomes 
him  ;  there  is  no  need  to  improve  him  and  we  ought  not 
to  try. 

Not  long  ago  Prof.  Frederick  Starr  after  a  brief  visit 
to  the  Congo  published  his  opinions  in  the  Chicago 
Tribune  and  made  many  strictures  upon  missionary  work. 
He  wrote  under  the  rather  complacent  caption,  "The 
truth  about  the  Congo,"  quite  confident  that  his  word 
and  hasty  observations  were  sufficient  to  discredit  the  hun- 
dreds who  had  gone  before  him,  as  able  and  as  honest  as 
himself,  and  who  had  lived  many  years  in  the  Congo. 
Professor  Starr  confesses  at  the  outset  that  he  personally 
"  dislikes  the  effort  to  elevate,  civilize,  and  remake  a  peo- 
ple," and  that  he  "should  prefer  to  leave  the  African  as  he 
was  before  the  white  contact."  It  is  his  opinion  that  civi- 
lized folk  have  no  right  to  change  the  customs,  institutions 
or  ideas  of  any  tribe,  even  with  the  purpose  of  saving 
their  souls.  Such  critics  regard  the  African,  not  at  all 
with  a  human  and  sympathetic  interest,  as  a  fellow  man, 
capable  of  progress,  and  possibly  endowed  with  an  im- 
mortal soul ;  but  with  an  esthetic  and  historical  interest, 
as  constituting  a  link  between  us  and  our  ape-ancestry, 
an  object  to  be  appraised  like  a  piece  of  antique  art,  not 
for  its  present  or  future  use,  but  for  the  past.  To  change 
him  shows  a  want  of  good  taste  and  historical  imagina- 
tion, even  if  the  change  relieve  his  suffering  and  improve 
his  morals  ;  that  were  a  small  compensation  if  we  thereby 
impoverish  the  variety  of  human  types  and  leave  the 
world  less  interesting  to  the  connoisseur.  Incidentally, 
Professor  Starr  denied  categorically  the  reported  atroci- 
ties of  the  Belgians  in  the  Congo  Free  State.  He  had 
asked  the  Belgians  themselves  about  the  matter. 

In  seeking  to  explain  the  wide-spread  criticism  of  mis- 


THE  CEITICS  289 

sions  and  of  missionaries  it  ought  to  be  frankly  admitted 
tliat  among  missionaries  there  are  misfits  and  occasional 
freaks  whose  misconduct  scandalizes  the  well  deserving. 
If  we  have  any  knowledge  of  human  nature,  and  realize 
that  in  every  society  there  are  unworthy  and  false  mem- 
bers, we  should  not  even  expect  tnat  the  ranks  of  mis* 
siouaries  alone  would  be  exempt.  By  denying  a  palpable 
fact  we  only  exasperate  our  critics  and  lead  them  to 
doubt  the  sincerity  of  all  instead  of  a  very  few.  It  is  al- 
ways wholesome  to  admit  the  truth,  and  indiscriminate 
praise  is  as  foolish  and  misleading  as  wholesale  criticism. 
On  one  of  my  voyages  to  Africa  a  certain  missionary 
was  regarded  as  "  the  biggest  liar  on  board."  What  in 
the  world  ever  attracted  him  to  the  mission  field  it  were 
hard  to  imagine.  Criticism  of  other  and  all  missionaries 
was  his  favourite  employment,  especially  when  convers- 
ing with  those  who  were  hostile  to  the  work.  While  we 
were  anchored  at  Accra  I  heard  him  say  to  a  trader,  as 
he  pointed  ashore  towards  the  splendid  English  mission  : 
"That  is  where  the  missionaries  take  in  heathen  and 
turn  out  devils."  He  did  not  stay  long  in  the  mission 
but  he  did  considerable  harm  in  a  short  time  and  created 
painful  misunderstandings  that  were  by  no  means  re- 
moved by  his  departure.  Imagine  the  position  of  a  mis- 
sionary placed  perhaps  alone  with  such  a  man,  with  no 
other  companionship  and  no  escape  from  his  neighbour- 
hood !  Moreover  the  report  of  the  missionary's  work, 
and  even  his  reputation,  depends  upon  the  other  man  ; 
he  is  therefore  at  his  mercy.  For  the  reputation  of  one 
who  labours  in  a  lonely  and  distant  field  may  be  indefi- 
nitely greater  or  less  than  he  deserves.  The  man  of 
whom  I  speak,  after  his  return  to  America,  figured  in 
the  police  courts  in  New  York  City,  where  he  was  ar- 
rested on  a  very  serious  and  odious  charge.  His  record 
there  is  still  accessible. 


290     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

Well-meaning  missionaries  sometimes  make  them- 
selves ridiculous  in  the  eyes  of  white  men  by  their  atti- 
tude and  manner  towards  the  natives.  I  once  witnessed 
such  a  scene,  when  a  missionary  standing  on  deck,  in  the 
presence  of  white  men,  conversed  with  a  group  of  natives 
in  a  manner  so  unseemly  and  so  silly  that  the  comments 
of  the  white  men  were  chiefly  oaths  and  ribald  laughter. 
When  at  last  the  natives  after  an  hour  on  board  were 
about  to  go  ashore,  one  of  them,  a  young  savage  about 
sixteen  or  seventeen  years  of  age  with  scarcely  a  stitch  of 
clothing  on  him,  came  to  the  missionary  and  said  :  "Me, 
I  go  for  shore  ;  "  whereupon  the  missionary  extended  his 
hand  and  lifting  his  huge  helmet  exclaimed  in  a  very 
loud  voice  accompanied  by  a  sweeping  bow  :  "  Good- 
bye, sir ;  good-bye  ;  and  I'm  happy  to  have  met  you,  sir." 

The  captain  in  a  voice  of  thunder  turned  to  me  and 
said  :  "  Who  is  that  fool  ?  "  I  have  weakened  the  cap- 
tain's forceful  language  by  omitting  his  expletive,  which 
the  average  reader  will  easily  supply. 

More  frequently,  yet  perhaps  not  often,  the  missionary 
errs  in  his  attitude  towards  his  worldly-minded  fellow 
passengers  on  these  long  voyages — is  unamiable,  or  in- 
dulges in  moral  strictures  in  a  way  that  cannot  possibly 
do  good,  and  is  calculated  to  create  prejudice  and  antip- 
athy. 

I  recall  one  Sunday  when  two  army  officers  thought  to 
kill  time  by  playing  ball  on  deck.  Like  others  of  their 
class,  they  regarded  all  civilians  with  contempt  and  mis- 
sionaries with  abhorrence.  They  were  interesting  when 
drunk,  but  extremely  stupid  when  sober.  A  lady  mis- 
sionary came  and  sat  down  in  her  chair  on  the  side  of 
the  deck  where  they  were  playing  ball.  As  the  man  at 
the  bat  began  to  strike  more  vigorously  the  ball  occa- 
sionally flew  past  the  lady  at  an  uncomfortably  short  dis- 
tance. There  were  chairs  on  the  other  side  of  the  deck 


THE  CRITICS  291 

•where  she  could  have  been  quite  as  comfortable,  and 
there  was  only  one  place  where  there  was  room  to  play 
ball ;  but  those  men  were  breaking  the  Sabbath,  and  she 
must  protest  by  staying  there  and  looking  righteous, 
that  is  to  say,  very  cross.  She  was  naturally  modest  as 
well  as  kind-hearted,  and  she  remained  there  wholly 
from  a  sense  of  duty.  She  was  a  small,  scanty  person, 
with  a  prominent  nose,  and  she  sat  bolt  upright,  her  nose 
looking  like  an  intentional  target  for  the  ball.  Once 
when  it  whizzed]  past  her  one  of  the  men  said,  "  Aren't 
you  afraid  you  will  get  hit  with  this  ball  if  you  stay 
there  ?  "  It  never  seemed  to  occur  to  him  that  there  was 
another  alternative,  namely,  for  them  to  stop  playing. 

She  seemed  not  to  hear,  but  looked  more  cross  than 
ever,  and  appeared  as  if  she  wanted  to  get  hit,  so  as  to  be 
a  martyr  to  her  principles  ;  or  at  least  so  as  -to  have  a 
better  reason  for  looking  so  cross.  The  captain  came 
along  and  after  contemplating  for  a  moment  the  smiling 
levity  of  those  worldly  men  and  the  contrasting  acerbity 
of  the  Christian  woman's  countenance,  as  she  sat  there 
keeping  the  Sabbath  day  holy,  he  went  to  the  side  and 
laughed  overboard.  At  length  a  fellow  missionary  ap- 
proached her  and  asked  if  she  would  go  with  him  to  the 
other  side  of  the  deck,  adding  that  he  wanted  to  talk 
with  her  on  a  matter  of  missionary  interest.  She  was  a 
real  good  woman  with  a  mistaken  sense  of  duty.  We 
must  surely  seek  to  be  amiable  to  people  as  we  find  them, 
and  try  to  like  people  as  they  are.  Such  conduct  is  a 
source  of  irritation  to  those  who  indulge  in  it,  and  it  in- 
spires dislike  and  consequent  criticism. 

Another  source  of  criticism  is  the  missionary  magazines 
of  the  various  societies  engaged  in  missionary  work. 
These  magazines  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  trader  ;  and 
sometimes  he  finds  a  glowing  account  of  the  great  work 
being  done  by  Missionary  A  who  happens  to  be  his  neigh- 


292     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

bour,  and  he  is  unable  to  reconcile  the  report  with  the 
work  which  he  has  seen  with  his  own  eyes.  Usually  his 
eyes  are  at  fault.  He  is  blind  to  spiritual  values.  There 
are  old  traders  in  Gaboon  who  do  not  know  that  there  is 
a  native  Christian  in  the  community. 

But  we  cannot  dismiss  the  whole  matter  in  this  cavalier 
manner,  and  I  feel  like  adding  that  the  missionary 
magazine,  however  necessary,  is  not  an  unmixed  good. 
It  is  not  good  that  a  man  should  let  his  left  hand  know 
all  that  his  right  hand  does.  The  missionary  magazine 
reports  to  the  world  what  the  missionary  chooses  to  write 
about  his  own  work.  If  his  letters  are  interesting  and  re- 
port large  success  they  are  eagerly  sought  and  published  ; 
and  he  of  course  is  not  callously  indifferent  to  his  reputa- 
tion. But,  inasmuch  as  there  are  few  or  no  witnesses  but 
himself,  the  magazine  puts  a  premium  on  egotism  and 
immodesty  ;  and  it  sometimes  fosters  a  kind  of  spiritual 
impotence  which  needs  the  stimulus  of  publicity.  One  of 
the  bravest  and  best  missionaries  it  has  ever  been  my 
privilege  to  know,  the  Eev.  William  Chambers  Gault, 
was  seldom  mentioned  in  a  missionary  magazine  and  lit- 
tle known  to  the  church  at  home,  though  he  laboured  for 
many  long  years  in  Africa  and  is  buried  there.  Mr. 
Gault  was  incorrigibly  modest. 

But  even  with  the  utmost  margin  of  excuse — admitting 
the  foolishness  of  fulsome  and  indiscriminate  praise  ;  ad- 
mitting that  missionaries  are  mortal,  and  some  few  of 
them  desperately  mortal — it  remains  that  the  wholesale 
criticism  and  violent  denunciation  that  one  hears  on  the 
voyage  is  unjust  and  outrageous.  We  must  look  for  the 
reason  of  it  in  the  critics  themselves — the  non-missionary 
white  men  residing  in  Africa.  And  in  themselves  we  will 
find  reason  enough. 

First  of  all,  many  or  most  of  these  men,  according  to 
their  own  confession,  are  not  men  of  personal  faith  in 


THE  CRITICS  293 

Christ,  but  men  who  deride  the  Gospel  in  which  we  be- 
lieve. Of  all  those  who  have  criticized  missions,  I  have 
only  known  of  one  man  who  himself  professed  to  be  a 
Christian;  his  criticism  was  rather  mild  and  was  due 
more  to  what  he  had  heard  than  what  he  had  seen. 

Carlyle  has  said  :  "  Unbelief  talking  about  belief  is 
like  a  blind  man  discussing  the  laws  of  optics."  How 
can  a  man  think  it  worth  while  to  expend  lives  and  money 
in  preaching  to  the  heatlieu  a  Gospel  which  he  himself 
rejects?  If  the  Gospel  itself  is  foolishness  those  who 
preach  it  must  be  fools,  and  the  greatest  fools  are  those 
who  preach  it  at  the  greatest  sacrifice.  What  does 
cynicism  know  about  enthusiasm?  It  was  not  "much 
learning,"  but  much  Christianity,  that  made  Paul  seem 
mad  to  Festus.  Manifestly  the  first  question  to  ask  the 
disbeliever  in  missions  is  whether  he  is  also  a  disbeliever 
in  Christianity  and  in  Christ.  It  is  really  astonishing 
that  so  many  critics  of  missions,  and  so  many  of  their 
readers,  should  treat  this  latter  question  as  entirely  ir- 
relevant. 

Eacial  antipathy  towards  the  black  man  is  also  a 
reason  of  hostility  to  missions.  The  intensity  of  this  feel- 
ing where  the  inferior  race  is  in  the  majority  is  surpris- 
ing, even  in  men  who  in  all  their  other  relations  are 
generous  and  considerate.  In  the  opinion  of  many  a 
white  man  in  Africa  the  black  man  is  little  better  than  a 
beast,  and  they  treat  him  accordingly.  To  speak  of  him 
as  a  brother  man  is  to  insult  the  white  man. 

This  antipathy  actually  prefers  that  the  black  man 
should  remain  in  his  present  degradation — perhaps  to 
justify  itself.  It  resents  every  effort  to  elevate  him ;  and 
as  it  sees  him  actually  rising  to  the  moral  level  of  the 
white  man  it  is  only  intensified  into  hatred.  One  soon 
perceives  that  the  object  of  the  white  man's  greatest 
aversion  is  not  the  lowest  native,  but  the  best.  The 


294     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

critic  may  therefore  be  sincere  when  he  declares  that  he 
can  see  no  good  in  the  native  product  of  missions,  for  he 
is  blinded  by  this  special  prejudice.  Racial  antipathy  is 
much  more  marked  in  the  government  official  than  in 
the  trader  ;  yet  even  the  traders  when  they  live  in  com- 
munities often  have  a  code  of  arrogant  manners  accord- 
ing to  which  they  ostracize  any  of  their  number  who 
may  extend  to  the  native  a  degree  of  social  recognition. 

This  antipathy  must  necessarily  be  hostile  to  mission- 
ary work.  For  the  work  of  the  missionary  implies  that 
he  regards  the  black  man  as  a  brother  man  ;  one  who  is 
also  capable  of  moral  elevation.  He  is  not  necessarily 
blind  to  the  present  degradation  of  the  native  ;  but  he  in- 
sists that  he  does  not  belong  to  the  present,  but  to  the 
future  ;  that  he  is  endowed  with  an  immortal  soul  and  the 
moral  possibilities  which  immortality  implies.  He  ad- 
mits the  worst  but  "  sees  the  best  that  glimmers  through 
the  worst,"  and  "  hears  the  lark  within  the  songless 
egg."  And  experience  has  justified  his  faith. 

The  missionary  treats  the  native  according  to  this  be- 
lief, and  as  he  rises  gives  him  exactly  the  social  place  to 
which  his  character  as  an  individual  entitles  him.  He 
takes  very  little  interest  in  the  abstract  question  of 
equality,  or  whether  the  black  man  is  inherently  inferior 
and  different  in  kind  from  the  white  man.  But  he  be- 
lieves that  in  Christian  brotherhood  there  is  neither  Jew 
nor  Greek,  neither  black  nor  white.  This  attitude  and 
the  behaviour  which  comports  with  it  are  obnoxious  to 
many  white  men,  and  are  inevitably  a  source  of  much 
hostility  to  missions. 

To  the  impulse  of  racial  antipathy  there  is  often  added 
that  of  angry  passion  unchecked  by  social  restraints, 
and  stimulated  by  the  irritability  of  a  malaria-infected 
temper. 

One  day  during  a  sea  voyage  a  white  man  was  telling  a 


THE  CRITICS  295 

number  of  us  how  the  native  workman  ought  to  be 
managed.  Addressing  a  missionary  he  said:  "You 
missionaries  make  a  great  mistake  in  being  kind  to  the 
native  workman.  To  let  him  know  that  you  value  him 
is  to  spoil  him  ;  to  praise  him  is  to  make  him  impudent  ; 
to  trust  him  is  to  make  him  a  thief.  The  proper  way  to 
manage  him  is  never  to  speak  to  him  without  swearing  ; 
and  to  curse  him  even  when  he  does  his  best.  They  are 
all  misbegotten  sons  of  rum-puncheons,  whose  highest 
idea  of  heaven  is  idleness  and  drink.  They  hate  us  all, 
and  the  only  way  to  get  any  service  out  of  them  is  to  use 
the  club.  Every  man  who  has  ever  worked  for  me  bears 
the  mark  of  my  club,  and  some  of  them  I  have  maimed 
for  life.  It  is  the  only  way  to  get  the  brutes  to  do  any- 
thing." 

The  missionary  replied  :  "I  believe  every  word  that 
you  say  in  regard  to  your  treatment  of  the  native.  But 
this  much  at  least  is  to  be  said  for  my  method,  as  against 
yours,  that  mine  is  a  complete  success,  and  yours  a  com- 
plete failure,  even  according  to  your  own  confession. 
Most  men  do  not  brag  about  their  failures,  nor  try  to 
teach  others  what  they  themselves  have  not  yet  learned. 
In  spite  of  kicks^and  curses  you  do  not  get  the  natives  to 
work.  One  must  conclude,  therefore,  that  you  like  kick- 
ing and  cursing  more  than  you  like  success.  Now  my 
method  succeeds  to  the  extent  that  I  usually  get  from  the 
native  all  the  service  for  which  I  pay  him  ;  and,  besides, 
they  have  nursed  me  when  I  was  sick  ;  and  they  have 
vied  with  each  other  in  protecting  me  from  the  sun  by 
day  and  storms  by  night ;  they  have  exposed  themselves 
to  danger  for  my  sake,  and  they  have  even  saved  my  life 
at  the  extremest  peril  of  their  own.  But  would  you 
therefore  exchange  your  method  for  mine  1  No ;  not 
even  for  the  sake  of  success." 

But  the  worst  cruelty  of  the  foreigner  towards  the 


296     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

native  results  from  the  union  of  trade  and  government — 
when  the  government  official  is  also  a  trader.  This  is 
what  happened  in  the  miserable  Congo  Free  State,  when 
the  king  of  the  Belgians  became  the  king  of  traders. 
The  concession  system  of  the  Belgians  was  afterwards  in- 
troduced into  the  French  Congo.  But  at  length  a  voice 
was  heard  that  had  long  been  silent,  and  De  Brazza,  rival 
of  Stanley  and  founder  of  the  French  Congo,  came  forth 
from  his  well-earned  retirement,  and  France  was  stirred 
with  the  eloquence  of  a  great  man's  indignation.  The 
result  was  that  the  worn-out  explorer  himself  was  ap- 
pointed the  head  of  a  commission  that  was  sent  to  inves- 
tigate the  conditions  in  those  parts  of  the  French  Congo 
in  which  the  concession  system  was  in  operation.  De 
Brazza  died  at  Dakar  on  his  return,  a  martyr  to  his 
efforts  for  justice  and  humanity  in  Africa.  But  his 
report  was  already  written,  in  which  he  charged  M. 
Gentil,  Commissioner  General  of  the  French  Congo,  with 
maladministration  and  great  cruelty  towards  the  natives. 
He  reported  a  number  of  natives  flogged  to  death  with 
knotted  whips.  He  stated  that  on  one  occasion,  at  the 
colonial  office  at  Bangui,  in  order  to  force  the  natives  to 
bring  trade-produce — called  taxes — fifty -eight  women 
and  ten  children  were  taken  and  held  as  prisoners  and 
that  within  five  weeks  forty-seven  of  these  died  of  star- 
vation. Is  it  any  wonder  that  to  certain  white  men  the 
usual  methods  of  the  missionary  seem  very  slow  and 
ineffective? 

The  missionary  is  the  champion  of  the  helpless  native 
against  the  white  man's  cruelty,  and  if  he  sometimes 
oversteps  the  limit  of  discretion,  as  is  often  said  (though 
I  do  not  know  of  a  single  instance),  his  excessive  zeal  is 
at  least  on  the  side  of  justice  and  humanity,  and  it  is 
also  in  behalf  of  the  weak  against  the  strong.  The  gov- 
ernment official  seldom  burns  down  native  towns  for 


THE  CRITICS  297 

pastime  in  the  community  where  there  is  a  missionary. 
When  remonstrance  is  unavailing  the  missionary  will  at 
length  report  the  matter  to  a  higher  official,  and  even  the 
highest.  And  if  such  cruelty  be  general  and  atrocities 
abound,  he  even  carries  his  remonstrance  to  the  govern- 
ments of  Europe,  or  appeals  to  the  civilized  world,  as  he 
has  done  in  regard  to  the  Belgian  Congo. 

Again,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  particular  vices 
which  so  many  white  men  practice  in  Africa  are  a  source 
of  estrangement  between  them  and  the  missionaries  and  a 
reason  for  hostility  and  consequent  criticism  of  missions. 

It  is  easy  to  be  uncharitable  and  even  unjust  when 
writing  on  this  subject.  The  contrast  between  the  selfish 
motives  of  the  trader  and  the  unselfish  motives  of  the 
missionary  has  been  overworked.  It  is  not  necessarily 
greed  for  gold  that  takes  the  trader  to  Africa,  but  often 
a  perfectly  honourable  ambition.  Besides,  I  have  known 
traders  who  went  to  Africa  chiefly  because  it  offered  the 
most  immediate  opportunity  in  sight  for  them  to  help  out 
at  home  when  younger  brothers  and  sisters  were  to  be  ed- 
ucated and  the  family  was  in  straitened  circumstances. 
The  pity  is  that  they  did  not  know  the  subtlety  of  the 
temptations  awaiting  them.  They  were  strong  enough  to 
live  up  to  their  moral  standards,  but  they  did  not  see 
that  those  standards  themselves  would  imperceptibly  be 
lowered.  Yet  this  is  what  happens. 

In  a  recent  book,  TJie  Basis  of  Ascendancy,  the  author, 
Mr.  Edgar  Gardner  Murphy,  speaking  of  the  small  pro- 
portion (as  it  seems  to  him)  of  the  nation's  brains  which 
the  Southern  white  man  of  the  United  States  supplies  as 
compared  with  the  New  Englander,  sets  forth  most  earn- 
estly the  danger  to  the  white  man  in  the  Southern  states 
of  contact  with  the  low  standards  of  an  inferior  race. 
The  significant  fact,  Mr.  Murphy  says,  is  not  the  mere 
pressure  of  a  lower  racial  standard,  but  the  white  man's 


298     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

cumulative  modification  of  his  own  standards  of  self- 
criticism  and  self-direction  : 

"Through  the  conditions  of  his  familiar  contact  with 
less  highly  developed  habits  of  efficiency,  with  forms  of 
will  more  immature  than  his,  he  is  deprived  of  that  bra- 
cing and  corrective  force,  resident  in  the  standard  of  his 
peers,  which,  manifesting  itself  within  every  personal 
world  as  one  of  the  higher  forms  of  social  cooperation, 
is,  in  fact,  the  moral  equivalent  of  competition.  He  may 
sin  and  not  die.  His  more  exacting  expectations  of  him- 
self are  not  echoed  from  without.  Of  himself,  as  he 
would  prefer  to  see  himself,  there  is  no  spiritual  mirror. 
The  occasional  tendency  to  take  himself  at  his  second 
best  is  socially  unchecked,  and  both  his  powers  and  his 
inclinations  tend  to  assume  the  forms  of  approximation 
imposed  by  a  life  of  habitual  relationship  with  a  mind 
lower  than  his  own. 

"  To  say  that  the  stronger  tends  to  become  brutal  be- 
cause the  weaker  is  brutal,  or  slovenly  because  the  weaker 
is  slovenly,  is  to  touch  the  process  only  on  its  surface. 
The  deeper  fact  is  not  that  of  imitation,  nor  yet  that  of 
contagion.  It  is  that  tragedy  of  recurrent  accommoda- 
tions, of  habitual  self- adjustment  to  lower  conceptions  of 
life  and  to  feebler  notions  of  excellence,  which  is  nothing 
less  than  education  in  its  descending  and  contractive 
forms." 

This  is  incomparably  more  true  in  Africa  than  it  ever 
has  been  or  ever  can  be  in  the  Southern  states.  The  worst 
of  the  remote  possibilities  which  Mr.  Murphy  describes 
are  fully  realized  in  Africa.  The  velocity  of  the  process 
is  accelerated  by  the  depressing  effect  of  the  climate. 

The  missionary  too  is  more  or  less  sensible  of  this  in- 
fluence upon  himself ;  but  he  is  guarded  by  the  fact  that 
his  very  purpose  in  Africa  is  to  introduce  and  teach  his 
own  standards  to  the  natives  and  he  is  constantly  oc- 


THE  CRITICS  299 

cupied  in  pointing  out  the  superiority  of  his  own  and  the 
inferiority  of  theirs.  Moreover  any  definite  accommoda- 
tion to  native  standards  would  mean  disgrace  and  failure ; 
to  other  white  men  it  means  neither.  Indeed  the  white 
man,  other  than  the  missionary,  who  proposes  to  main- 
tain the  home  standards  in  Africa  will  sometimes  find 
himself  ostracized  by  his  fellows. 

The  use  of  rum  by  the  natives  the  missionary  is  bound 
to  denounce  and  within  the  membership  of  the  church  it 
is  absolutely  forbidden.  But  in  doing  this  the  missionary 
by  implication  reflects  very  seriously  upon  many  white 
men.  For  the  excessive  drinking  of  the  majority  of 
white  men  in  Africa,  with  its  appalling  consequences,  is 
so  well  known  that  there  is  no  need  to  exploit  it.  And 
when  the  native  connected  with  the  mission  church  re- 
fuses either  to  drink  rum  or  to  sell  it,  thereby  professing 
moral  superiority  to  those  white  men,  the  latter  are 
exasperated.  And  shall  the  missionary  not  teach  the 
native  the  strict  observance  of  the  seventh  commandment 
because  the  white  man  so  flagrantly  violates  it  ?  The  dis- 
cord arising  from  this  source  is  greatly  aggravated  by  the 
fact  that  so  many  girls  educated  in  mission  schools  are 
enticed  by  the  extraordinary  temptations  of  the  white 
men  to  a  life  that  the  missionary,  if  he  be  true  to  his 
Christian  standards,  must  condemn  ;  for  the  girls  of  the 
mission  are  the  most  intelligent  and  attractive. 

These  various  reasons  are  ample  explanation  of  the 
hostility  to  missions  and  the  consequent  criticisms  that 
are  heard  all  along  the  coast,  and  which  are  occasionally 
disseminated  over  the  world  by  some  writer  who  has  made 
a  brief  stay  in  Africa  and  who  is  so  ignorant  of  the  whole 
subject  of  missions  that  it  ought  not  to  require  much  dis- 
cretion to  be  silent. 

Those  who  condemn  missions  on  sociological  grounds — 
who,  like  Professor  Starr,  think  that  civilized  folk  have 


SOO     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

no  right  to  change  the  customs,  institutions  or  ideas  of 
any  tribe,  even  with  the  purpose  of  saving  their  souls — 
are  easily  answered.  For  not  only  does  such  a  view  ut- 
terly repudiate  the  claim  of  Christ  to  be  the  world's 
Saviour — the  "Light  of  the  world,"  to  which  every  man 
and  nation  has  a  right — but  it  is  also  contrary  to  the  ac- 
cepted principles  of  sociology.  It  is  untrue  and  unscien- 
tific to  say  that  the  social  structure  of  any  given  people 
has  been  fashioned  by  the  people  themselves,  and  there- 
fore meets  their  needs  ;  and  that  progressive  changes  must 
be  brought  about  by  the  people  themselves  without  the 
introduction  of  outside  elements.  The  student  of  social 
evolution  knows  that  the  social  structure  is  not  always 
fashioned  by  the  people  themselves  :  it  is  sometimes 
altered  radically  by  conquest.  Neither  does  it  always 
meet  the  people's  needs.  The  first  need  of  a  people  is 
bread  ;  and  wherever  the  population  is  pressing  too  hard 
against  the  means  of  subsistence,  as  in  India  and  China, 
with  their  recurring  famines,  there  is  a  sure  sign  of 
weakness  and  defect  in  the  social  structure.  Neither  is  it 
true  that  progressive  changes  must  be  brought  about  by 
the  people  themselves  ;  for  there  may  be  social  evils — 
impediments  to  progress,  or  tendencies  to  degeneration 
— which  can  only  be  corrected  by  the  introduction  of  new 
ethical  elements  from  without.  Mohammedanism,  a 
foreign  religion,  has  become  perfectly  naturalized  in  a 
large  portion  of  Africa,  and  our  critics — most  of  them — 
vie  with  each  other  in  proclaiming  the  good  it  has 
wrought.  The  spread  of  Buddhism  in  the  Orient  in- 
troduced new  ideals.  Christianity,  originating  in  the 
Orient,  brought  new  ideals  to  Europe.  In  Japan  many 
of  the  elements  worked  out  by  Western  civilization  have 
been  adopted  and  naturalized. 

Besides,  the  let-alone  policy  for  Africa  even  if  it  were 
rational  is  hopelessly  late.    Foreign  trade  and  govern- 


THE  CRITICS  301 

ment  have  long  been  established  and  show  no  sign  of 
withdrawing.  And  the  question  is  whether  we  shall 
send  to  Africa  our  civilization,  with  all  its  burden  of  new 
demands  and  moral  responsibilities,  without  disclosing 
to  its  primitive  and  childlike  people  that  which  alone 
supports  our  material  civilization  and  enables  us  to  bear 
its  moral  weight — that  which  is  deepest  and  best  in  our 
thought  and  life. 

One  of  unusual  gifts  and  attainments,  who  in  all  prob- 
ability would  have  occupied  a  position  of  great  influence 
in  the  church  in  America  if  he  had  remained  at  home, 
after  labouring  more  than  forty  years  in  Africa,  speaks 
thus  of  the  temporal  benefits  consequent  upon  the  spread 
of  Christianity  : 

"For  the  feeling  with  which  I  was  impressed  on  my 
very  first  contact  with  the  miseries  of  the  sociology  of 
heathenism,  entirely  aside  from  its  theology  and  any 
question  of  salvation  in  a  future  life,  has  been  steadily 
deepened  into  conviction  that,  even  if  I  were  not  a  Chris- 
tian, I  still  ought  to,  and  would,  do  and  bear  and  suffer 
whatever  God  has  called  or  allowed  me  to  suffer  or  bear 
or  do  since  1861  in  my  proclamation  of  His  Gospel, 
simply  for  the  sake  of  the  elevation  of  heathen  during 
their  present  earthly  life  from  the  wrongs  sanctioned  by 
or  growing  out  of  their  religion."  l 

But  to  this  apologetic  the  missionary  adds  his  con- 
fident belief  that  the  Christian  faith  affects  not  only  the 
Africans'  redemption  from  "the  miseries  of  the  sociology 
of  heathenism,"  but  also  and  chiefly  the  salvation  of 
their  souls ;  for  he  has  seen  the  evidence  in  the  lives  of 
many  who  have  been  morally  transformed  by  the  power 
of  a  new  and  transcendent  hope.  Christian  missions  have 
made  high  claims,  but  their  self-estimate  has  been  justified 
by  their  achievement. 

1  Rev.  Robert  Hamill  Nassau,  D.  D.,  Fetishism  in  West  Africa,  p.  26. 


£02     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFEICA 

When  I  was  on  the  voyage  to  Africa  for  the  first  time 
it  chanced  that  Miss  Mary  H.  Kingsley,  the  famous 
English  traveller  and  writer,  had  just  made  one  of  her 
journeys  down  the  West  Coast  and  her  name  was  in  every- 
body's mouth.  Expressions  of  opinion  were  remarkable 
for  lack  of  moderation,  and  oscillated  between  extremes 
of  praise  and  criticism.  When  I  went  to  Africa  the  sec- 
ond time  Miss  Kingsley  had  finished  her  travels  on  the 
coast  and  written  her  books,  with  their  strong  indict- 
ment of  missions.  I  was  amazed  at  the  frequency  and 
assurance  with  which  Miss  Kingsley  was  everywhere 
quoted.  The  captain  of  the  steamer  upon  which  I  trav- 
elled knew  her  books  almost  by  heart.  He  could  repeat 
whole  pages ;  which  he  did  with  as  much  reverence  as 
if  he  were  quoting  from  Science  and  Health.  He  had  no 
doubt  but  that  she  had  dealt  the  final  death-blow  to  mis- 
sions, and  that  the  era  of  missionary  activity  was  already 
drawing  to  an  inglorious  close  by  reason  of  her  indict- 
ment. The  captain  himself  seemed  to  feel  real  bad  about 
it. 

Some  years  have  passed  since  Miss  Kingsley  wrote ; 
but  she  is  quoted  as  much  as  ever,  especially  in  England. 
The  African  Society  was  founded  as  a  memorial  to  her, 
and  the  organ  of  this  society,  The  African  Society  Journal, 
bears  a  medallion  portrait  of  her  on  its  title-page.  In 
short,  in  English  trade  circles  Miss  Kingsley  is  a  kind  of 
religious  cult. 

Besides  being  a  remarkably  clever  woman  and  a 
brilliant  writer,  she  had  the  prestige  of  a  great  name, 
being  the  niece  of  Charles  Kingsley  and  the  daugh- 
ter of  George  Kingsley ;  a  name  of  such  historical 
significance  in  the  Church  of  England  that  we  should 
naturally  expect  Miss  Kingsley  to  be  in  intellectual 
and  moral  sympathy  with  the  Christian  religion.  Such 
however  is  by  no  means  the  case.  She  avows  her 


THE  CRITICS  303 

disbelief  in  Christianity  and  frankly  tells  us  that  Spinoza 
is  the  exponent  of  her  creed,1  which  is  therefore  pure 
pantheism.  God  does  not  transcend  nature ;  nor  is  He 
separable  from  it.  Moreover,  Miss  Kingsley  does  not  hold 
this  opinion  dispassionately.  For  instance,  the  effort  to 
draw  moral  inspiration  from  our  relation  to  a  personal 
God  (which  she  chooses  to  call  "  emotionalism "),  she 
tells  us  she  regards  with  "instinctive  hatred."  3 

With  such  views  Miss  Kingsley  finds,  when  she  comes 
to  the  study  of  fetishism,  that  she  half  believes  in  it  her- 
self, and  she  is  reluctant  to  speak  against  it.  She  says : 
"It  is  a  most  unpleasant  thing  for  any  religious-minded 
person  to  speak  of  a  religion  unless  he  either  profoundly 
believes  or  disbelieves  in  it.  For  if  he  does  the  one  he 
has  the  pleasure  of  praise ;  if  he  does  the  other,  he  has 
the  pleasure  of  war,  but  the  thing  in  between  these  is  the 
thing  that  gives  neither  pleasure  ;  it  is  like  quarrelling 
with  one's  own  beloved  relations.  Thus  it  is  with  fetish 
and  me!" s 

We  need  not  be  surprised,  then,  when  Miss  Kingsley 
frankly  says:  "I  am  unsympathetic,  for  reasons  of  my 
own,  with  Christian  missions."  * 

And  not  only  was  there  a  want  of  intellectual  sympathy 
with  the  Christian  religion,  but  a  want  of  moral  sympa- 
thy as  well. 

Miss  Kingsley  says:  "An  American  magazine  the 
other  day  announced,  in  a  shocked  way,  that  I  could  evi- 
dently 'swear  like  a  trooper.'  I  cannot  think  where  it 
got  the  idea  from."  5  I  can.  And  I  venture  the  simple 
guess  that  the  editor  had  read  Miss  Kingsley 's  books 
— for  instance,  the  interesting  preface  to  West  African 
Studies. 

1  West  African  Studies,  p.  112.         »  Travels  in  West  Africa,  p.  506. 

1  West  African  Studies,  p.  113.         4  Travels  in  West  Africa,  p.  214. 

•  West  African  Studies,  p.  299. 


304     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFEICA 

But  there  are  several  more  serious  phases  of  this  want 
of  sympathy  with  the  spirit  of  Christianity  which  would 
militate  against  Miss  Kingsley's  competence  as  a  critic  of 
missions,  namely,  her  avowed  belief  in  slavery,  in  polyg- 
amy, and  in  the  liquor  traffic.  Miss  Kiugsley,  after  con- 
tending that  domestic  slavery  is  "for  divers  reasons 
essential  to  the  well-being  of  Africa,"  appends  the  follow- 
ing opinion  in  a  foot-note  :  "  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  the 
suppression  of  the  export  slave  trade  to  the  Americas 
was  a  grave  mistake."  1  Even  more  vehemently  does 
Miss  Kingsley  defend  native  polygamy  ;  and  still  more 
vehemently  the  liquor  traffic. 

We  are  grateful  for  the  perfect  frankness  with  which 
she  expresses  her  views  on  these  three  subjects,  as  it 
makes  it  an  easier  task  to  discredit  her  opinion  on  Chris- 
tian missions ;  for,  in  this  day  and  generation,  to  believe 
in  these  three  social  evils  of  Africa  and  at  the  same  time 
to  believe  in  missions  were  impossible.  If  these  are  not 
evils  it  is  a  foregone  conclusion  that  the  missionary,  who 
is  fighting  them  to  the  death,  is  doing  more  harm  than 
good,  is  wasting  both  blood  and  money,  and  is  at  the 
best  a  "  well-meaning  fool." 

Miss  Kingsley  assures  us  that  she  went  to  Africa  in  the 
belief  that  the  missionary  represented  everything  that 
was  good  and  the  trader  everything  that  was  evil.  But 
on  shipboard,  long  before  she  reached  Africa,  when  Miss 
Kiugsley  was  mistaken  for  a  missionary  she  thought  it 
the  greatest  joke  of  modern  times — and  I  rather  agree 
with  her.  This  is  the  one  joke  that  she  repeats  with  in- 
finite laughter  every  time  that  it  occurs.  Her  laughter 
of  course  measures  her  inward  sense  of  utter  incon- 
gruity and  want  of  sympathy.  Her  fellow  passengers 
knew  her  attitude  before  she  reached  the  first  African 
port. 

1  Travels  in  West  Africa,  p.  514. 


THE  CRITICS  305 

Another  marked  feature  about  Miss  Kingsley's  books 
is  the  author's  want  of  sympathy  for  the  sufferings  of 
the  natives,  and  her  want  of  pity  when  they  bleed  under 
the  cruel  lash  of  the  white  man.  Though  written  by  a 
woman,  they  are  books  without  tears. 

For  instance,  a  story  of  heartrending  wrong  and  suffer- 
ing was  told  me  by  a  trader  of  Fernando  Po,  who, 
although  he  had  been  on  the  coast  for  years,  and,  one 
would  think,  had  been  hardened  by  cruel  sights,  was 
yet  deeply  affected  as  he  related  it.  I  was  able  to  verify 
it  afterwards.  It  was  a  story  of  the  cruelty  of  Portuguese 
planters  to  certain  Krumen,  whom  by  a  false  contract 
they  enticed  to  San  Thome  Island  and  then  compelled 
them  to  remain  and  labour  on  the  coco  plantations  as 
slaves.  The  conduct  of  the  Portuguese  in  Africa  justifies 
the  opinion  of  the  Kruman,  who  says  :  "  God  done  make 
white  man  and  God  done  make  black  man  but  dem  debil 
done  make  Portuguee."  These  enslaved  Krumen, 
watching  their  opportunity,  after  two  years  escaped 
from  San  Thome"  in  canoes  by  night.  They  did  not  know 
that  they  were  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  the 
mainland,  and  they  hoped  that  by  some  unforeseen  means 
they  might  reach  their  own  country.  They  all  perished  ; 
most  of  them  by  hunger  and  thirst.  After  many  days 
one  or  two  canoes  drifted  to  Fernando  Po.  In  these  the 
men  were  still  alive— rbut  scarcely  alive,  and  they  died 
after  being  rescued. 

This  story  Miss  Kingsley  tells,  in  substance,  though  in 
abridged  form,  and  with  no  comment  except  the  following 
apology  for  the  Portuguese:  "My  Portuguese  friends 
assure  me  that  there  never  was  a  thought  of  permanently 
detaining  the  boys,  and  that  they  were  only  just  keeping 
them  until  other  labourers  arrived  to  take  their  place  on 
the  plantation.  I  quite  believe  them,  for  I  have  seen  too 
much  of  the  Portuguese  in  Africa  to  believe  that  they 


306     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFKICA 

would  in  a  wholesale  way  be  cruel  to  natives."  1  Surely 
the  quality  of  Miss  Kiugsley's  charity  is  not  strained ! 
I  scarcely  know  a  white  man  in  West  Africa  who  would 
offer  any  apology  for  those  men,  or  who  would  call  them 
his  "friends."  If  the  poor  Krumen  had  been  captured, 
Miss  Kingsley's  friends  would  probably  have  flogged 
them  to  death.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  are  always  a 
number  of  escaped  slaves  leading  a  wretched  existence 
in  the  deep  forest  of  San  Thom6.  And  the  Portuguese 
have  been  known  to  go  hunting  them  as  we  would  hunt 
wild  animals.  They  sometimes  find  them  hiding  in  the 
tops  of  the  tall  trees,  and  it  is  considered  uncommonly 
fine  sport  to  shoot  them  in  the  trees  and  bring  them 
crashing  to  the  ground. 

Miss  Kiugsley  disliked  any  and  every  change  that 
threatened  to  improve  the  native  and  thus  to  mar  the 
picturesque  wilduess  of  his  savage  state.  She  is  perfectly 
consistent  with  her  anti-mission  views  when  she  tells  us 
the  kind  of  native  that  she  admires,  as  follows:  "A 
great,  strong  Kruman,  for  example,  with  his  front  teeth 
filed,  nothing  much  on  but  oil,  half  a  dozen  wives,  and 
half  a  hundred  jujus  [fetishes],  is  a  sort  of  person  whom 
I  hold  higher  than  any  other  form  of  native."  2  Well, 
it  is  proverbial  that  tastes  differ;  but  the  missionary 
thinks  that,  as  compared  with  this,  the  Christian  ideal  is 
higher  and  nobler.  Miss  Kingsley  informs  us  (through 
the  words  of  another  whom  she  quotes  with  approval)  of 
the  treatment  received,  at  the  hands  of  these  same 
Krumen,  by  shipwrecked  and  half- drowned  passengers 
cast  helpless  upon  the  shore:  "If  you  get  ashore  you 
don't  save  the  things  you  stand  up  in — the  natives  strip 
you."  "  Of  course  they  are  cannibals  ;  they  are  all  can- 
nibals when  they  get  a  chance."  3  And  this  is  the  sort 

1  Travels  in  West  Africa,  p.  49.          J  West  African  Studies,  p.  385. 

p42. 


A   CONTRAST. 
Anyoroguli,   a   Christian   woman   of  Gaboon. 


WOMEN*  OF  THE  INTERIOR  RETURNING  FROM  THE  GARDENS 
WITH  CASSAVA  AND  FIREWOOD. 


THE  CRITICS  307 

of  person  whom  Miss  Kingsley  holds  "higher  than  any 
other  form,  of  native ' '  ! 

That  the"  native  Christians  should  inspire  aversion  is 
exactly  what  we  should  expect ;  and  yet  we  are  scarcely 
prepared  for  the  inveterate  animosity,  the  almost  fierce 
hostility,  that  she  everywhere  reveals  when  she  comes  in 
contact  with  a  native  Christian.  Miss  Kingsley' s  attacks 
upon  the  African  Christians  are  the  most  unworthy  of  all 
the  things  she  has  said.  To  give  a  single  instance,  I 
would  refer  to  her  story  told  in  Travels  in  West  Africa 
(p.  557)  of  a  night  which  she  spent  in  the  house  of  a 
Bible  teacher  of  the  Basle  Mission.  Two  mission  teach- 
ers, together  with  a  great  many  others,  came  into  the 
room.  The  teachers,  she  says,  "lounge  around  and  spit 
in  all  directions."  Next  morning  again,  she  says,  "the 
mission  teachers  get  in  with  my  tea,  and  sit  and  smoke 
and  spit,  while  I  have  my  breakfast.  Give  me  the  canni- 
bal Fang ! " 

Are  we  to  conclude  that  cannibalism  in  Miss  Kings- 
ley's  opinion  is  a  less  grievous  offense  against  society  than 
smoking  and  spitting!  For  that  matter,  cannibals  spit 
too.  And  I  should  think  they  would  !  And,  then,  were 
the  other  natives  who  were  present,  the  untutored  sav- 
ages, not  smoking  and  spitting  f  It  may  be  regarded  as 
certain  that  they  were  smoking  if  they  had  tobacco  ;  and 
whether  or  not  they  were  smoking  I  am  sure  they  were 
spitting  ;  for  that  nasty  habit  is  racial  and  continental. 
Even  white  men  in  Africa  contract  the  habit ;  and,  what's 
more,  they  scratch :  they  spit  and  scratch — the  effect  per- 
haps of  the  climate.  I  have  known  a  few  native  Chris- 
tians who  neither  smoke  nor  spit ;  but  I  have  not  known 
a  savage,  either  man  or  woman,  who  did  not  do  both. 
Why,  then,  single  out  these  two  poor  boys  from  the  rest 
of  the  company  ?  And  why  visit  upon  their  heads  all 
the  odium  of  a  racial  habit  ?  If,  at  the  instance  of  the 


preaching  of  the  Gospel,  they  have  left  off  cannibalism, 
and  killing,  and  adultery,  and  stealing,  and  lying,  I  think 
they  will  scarcely  be  damned  for  spitting  ;  and  I  am  sure 
they  will  leave  that  off  too  before  they  enter  heaven. 

I  well  know  the  manners  of  native  boys  who  have  been 
in  the  mission  long  enough  to  become  teachers.  They 
have  an  instinct  for  good  manners.  It  would  be  far 
easier  to  criticize  their  morals  than  their  manners.  At 
this  same  place  Miss  Kingsley  sent  an  attendant  to  ask 
the  teacher  for  wood  to  make  a  fire.  The  attendant  re- 
turned and  said  that  the  teacher  would  not  give  him  wood 
unless  it  was  paid  for.  Knowing  the  cordial  hospitality 
and  eager  attention  that  would  be  given  to  a  white  woman 
by  any  and  every  mission  teacher  that  I  have  met  in 
Africa,  I  am  compelled,  from  the  extraordinary  behaviour 
of  this  teacher,  to  doubt  whether  Miss  Kingsley  was  a 
gracious  guest.  But  we  need  not  remain  in  doubt ;  for 
Miss  Kingsley,  while  she  was  the  guest  of  this  teacher,  in 
a  mission  house,  had  with  her  a  demijohn  of  rum,  which 
she  dispensed  to  the  natives  in  pay  and  barter,  as  was  her 
custom  everywhere  ;  and  it  is  more  than  possible  that  the 
teacher's  message  that  his  wood  was  for  sale  was  a  moral 
protest,  not  only  against  the  violation  of  hospitality,  but 
also  against  the  violation  of  those  moral  and  religious 
principles  to  which  his  life  and  honour  were  committed, 
and  upon  which  depended,  as  he  sincerely  believed,  the 
salvation  of  his  people. 

It  would  be  my  duty  to  show  that  Miss  Kingsley  re- 
ceived most  of  her  so-called  facts  directly  from  the  traders, 
and  that  all  that  came  under  her  own  observation  she  saw 
through  the  medium  of  their  opinions.  But  Miss  Kings- 
ley  has  forestalled  the  necessity  by  the  following  frank 
confession:  "All  I  know  that  is  true  regarding  "West 
Africa,  I  owe  to  the  traders."  l  Miss  Kingsley  must  have 

1  Travels  in  West  Africa,  p.  7. 


THE  CRITICS  309 

felt  that  she  owed  an  enormous  debt  of  gratitude  to  the 
traders  :  for  through  two  large  volumes  she  sings  a  con- 
tinual paean  to  the  trader's  praise.  I  might  by  the  citation 
of  facts  within  my  own  knowledge  show  that  in  some 
instances  Miss  Kingsley  was  mistaken ;  but  I  have  not 
the  least  disposition  to  do  so.  For  the  life  of  the  trader 
on  the  far-away  beaches  of  West  Africa  is  so  cheerless 
and  loveless — sometimes,  indeed,  an  unremitting  and 
lonely  fight  with  temptation,  fever,  delirium  and  death — 
that  sympathy  is  more  becoming  than  criticism. 

But  my  deepest  sympathy  and  highest  praise  must  be 
for  those  who  have  gone  to  Africa  not  for  gold,  but  at  the 
sacrifice  of  gold  and  other  interests  ;  who  left  home  and 
social  pleasures  not  indifferently  and  impatient  of  re- 
straint, but  with  tears  and  aching  hearts,  that  they 
might  carry  the  Gospel  of  peace  to  the  most  miserable  of 
human  beings ;  whom  they  are  not  ashamed  to  call 
brethren.  Many  such  are  now  working  in  the  unwhole- 
some jungles  ;  but  a  far  greater  number  lie  in  the  grass- 
grown  cemeteries,  who  fell  in  the  fight  with  a  deadly  but 
invisible  foe,  a  foe  which  became  visible  only  in  the  in- 
carnations of  delirium,  when  the  fever  like  fire  was 
coursing  through  their  veins.  To  them  belongs  the 
greater  praise,  for  they  died  not  in  seeking  their  own  in- 
terest, but  for  others. 


XVIII 
SAINTS  AMONG  SAVAGES 

CABLYLE  remarks  :  "  If  there  are  depths  in  man 
as  deep  as  hell,  there  are  also  heights  as  high  as 
heaven  ;  are  not  both  heaven  and  hell  made  out 
of  him  ?  » 

The  final  argument  and  the  best  apologetic  for  missions 
in  Africa  is  the  native  Christian.  He  is  not  much  on 
exhibition  but  he  is  there.  The  traveller  does  not  find 
him  ;  for  his  voice  is  not  heard  in  the  streets.  Many  a 
white  resident  in  Africa  is  unaware  of  him  and  is  in- 
credulous when  he  is  pointed  out ;  even  as  the  people  of 
Nazareth  did  not  know  that  there  was  any  essential  dif- 
ference between  themselves  and  Jesus  though  He  had 
lived  thirty  years  in  their  midst.  But  the  spiritual  eye 
of  John  the  Baptist  discerned  in  Him  one  who  had  no 
need  of  repentance.  And  the  "seeing  eye"  will  easily 
discover  the  native  Christian  in  Africa ;  and  it  is  really 
worth  while,  for  at  his  best  he  is  as  much  like  his  Master 
as  any  that  can  be  found  anywhere,  and  particularly  in 
that  gentleness  that  would  not  break  the  bruised  reed. 

The  first  elder  of  the  Fang  Church  was  Mba  Obam 
(shortened  to  Mb' Obam),  chief  of  Makwefia,  and  uncle 
of  Ndong  Koni.  He  was  tall,  good  looking,  very  quiet 
and  of  strong  personality. 

On  one  occasion  when  I  was  staying  in  his  town  over 
night  it  happened  that  there  was  a  great  celebration.  A 
month  before  this  a  big  man  of  the  town,  more  important 
than  popular,  had  died  ;  and  having  mourned  for  him 

310 


SAINTS  AMONG  SAVAGES  311 

every  night  for  a  whole  month,  the  people  thought  they 
had  done  their  full  duty.  It  remained  only  to  give  him 
a  good  il send-off"  in  a  great  dance  and  feast,  which  re- 
leased all  his  friends  aud  relations  from  further  obliga- 
tion of  mourning.  All  the  men  from  the  neighbouring 
towns  had  been  invited  and  there  was  a  great  crowd  and 
infinite  noise.  In  the  midst  of  the  furious  dancing  of 
the  men  some  untoward  incident  occurred  that  precipi- 
tated a  general  row,  in  which  every  man  drew  his  sword, 
and  they  instantly  divided,  according  to  their  tribal  rela- 
tionships, into  two  lines  of  glaring,  dangerous  savages. 
Before  I  had  fully  comprehended  the  situation  Mb'Obam, 
who  had  taken  no  part  in  the  celebration,  came  from  his 
house  down  the  street  in  long  strides,  every  inch  a  chief, 
as  much  so  as  the  last  of  the  Mohicans,  but  carrying  no 
sword.  At  the  extreme  risk  of  his  life,  as  it  seemed  to  me, 
he  pushed  into  the  middle,  between  the  lines  of  thrusting 
and  parrying  swords,  and  commanded  silence.  To  my 
surprise,  they  obeyed  him  and  became  quiet,  the  sudden 
silence  contrasting  strangely  with  the  former  uproar  and 
confusion. 

Mb'Obam,  with  the  gentleness  of  a  father,  reminded 
them  that  they  were  no  longer  savages,  but  brothers,  and 
that  if  they  should  hastily  shed  each  other's  blood  they 
would  be  sure  to  regret  it  afterwards.  There  was  no 
more  quarrelling  that  night. 

Mb'Obam  and  his  wife,  Sara,  had  lived  at  Angom  in 
the  time  of  Mr.  Marling  and  had  there  become  Christians. 
After  Mr.  Marling' s  death  they  had  moved  down  the 
river  to  Makwefia.  Ndong  Koni  and  Mb'Obam  built  a 
beautiful  chapel  at  Makwefia.  I  have  already  told  how 
that  Ndong  Koni  paid  for  the  windows  and  doors  by 
working  in  the  yard  at  Baraka.  In  this  chapel  Mb'Obam 
held  a  service  every  Sunday,  besides  early  morning 
prayers  each  day,  at  which  all  the  people  assembled  be- 


fore  going  away  to  their  gardens  and  their  various  occu- 
pations of  work  or  pleasure. 

I  have  told  elsewhere  how  that,  when  Mb'Obam  was 
dying,  he  called  the  people  around  him  and  begged  them 
to  be  good  to  his  wife,  Sara,  and  not  to  accuse  her  of  be- 
witching him  when  he  was  gone.  He  also  reminded 
them  how  in  late  years  he  had  protected  the  women 
against  whom  this  charge  was  made.  They  promised,  of 
course,  and  they  meant  it ;  for  they  revered  him  ;  but  as 
soon  as  he  was  dead  old  beliefs  prevailed  and  old  cus- 
toms asserted  tyrannous  authority.  They  charged  Sara 
with  having  caused  Mb'Obani's  death  by  witchcraft. 
They  dared  not  kill  her ;  for  they  were  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  French  government.  But  they  drove  her  on  her 
hands  and  knees  up  and  down  the  street  with  two  men 
sitting  on  her  back.  From  this  cruelty  I  rescued  her  one 
day  with  a  stout  stick  which  I  used  somewhat  freely ; 
otherwise  it  might  have  ended  in  her  death.  "When  Sara 
was  sufficiently  recovered  I  said  to  her:  "Sara,  what 
can  I  do  to  protect  you  against  further  cruelty  ?  " 

She  replied  :  "Mr.  Milligau,  I  think  you  had  better 
find  me  a  husband." 

It  wasn't  entirely  out  of  my  line — if  there's  any  such 
thing  as  a  line  in  a  missionary's  work — for,  as  an  essen- 
tial part  of  my  pastoral  duty,  I  found  it  necessary  to  run 
a  kind  of  matrimonial  bureau.  Well,  we  found  a  hus- 
band for  Sara,  which  was  not  difficult,  for  they  all  knew 
that  she  was  a  good  woman.  A.  Christian  man  married 
her  and  I  hope  they  may  still  be  living  happily  together. 

One  night  Mb'Obam  came  to  an  Mpongwe  prayer-meet- 
ing in  Gaboon  and  brought  a  number  of  his  Fang  friends. 
The  Mpongwe  being  a  coast  tribe,  all  but  the  Christians 
among  them  despise  the  Fang.  The  meeting  was  in  an 
Mpougwe  village  and  there  were  many  present  who  were 
not  Christians.  It  happened  that  I  was  conducting  the 


SAINTS  AMONG  SAVAGES  313 

meeting  ;  and  after  telling  the  Mpongwe  who  Mb'Obam 
was  I  asked  him  to  address  them,  which  he  did  in  their 
own  language.  In  the  course  of  his  talk  he  referred  to 
the  ark  that  "Adam  "  built.  Ndong  Koui  was  sitting 
not  far  from  him,  and  when  Mb'Obain  referred  a  second 
time  to  "Adam's  ark,"  before  these  better-informed 
Mpongwe,  Ndong  Koni  quietly  said  to  him:  "Father, 
you  mean  Noah." 

Mb'Obain,  without  the  least  embarrassment,  replied  : 
"Was  it  Noah?  Thank  you,  my  son.  I  thought  it  was 
Adam  that  built  the  ark  j  but  it  does  not  affect  what  I 
was  going  to  say." 

The  simplicity  of  it  was  so  beautiful  that  we  scarcely 
thought  of  its  being  amusing.  Then  he  went  on  and 
made  a  most  fitting  and  touching  comparison  between  his 
own  life  and  that  of  Noah,  preaching  through  all  those 
years  the  while  he  was  preparing  the  ark,  a  lonely  be- 
liever in  the  midst  of  unbelief  and  ridicule  and  wicked- 
ness that  rends  a  believer's  heart.  "  Yet  Noah's  words 
came  to  pass  because  they  were  God's  words ;  so  God 
will  in  His  own  time  justify  us.  Meanwhile  we  will  go 
on  preaching  ;  and  may  we  be  faithful  and  uncomplain- 
ing." 

He  made  a  profound  impression  on  the  Mpongwe 
Christians  ;  and  often  afterwards  when  I  returned  from 
my  journeys  some  of  them  would  ask  me  if  I  had  been 
to  Mb'Obam's  town  and  if  he  was  well.  "When  I  heard 
that  he  was  very  sick  I  sent  a  boat  and  brought  him  to 
Baraka.  I  took  him  to  the  French  hospital  for  a  few 
days.  But  nothing  could  save  his  life.  It  was  only  at 
his  death  that  I  realized  how  much  he  was  loved  and 
respected.  He  himself  never  knew. 

Another  man,  Angona,  had  been  an  important  man  in 
his  town,  having  had  several  wives,  and  a  great  variety 
of  powerful  and  well-tried  fetishes.  Angona,  on  one  oc- 


314:     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

casion  staying  over  night  at  Gaboon,  took  the  opportu- 
nity of  spending  the  evening  at  Baraka  and  advising  with 
me  on  certain  matters,  moral  and  religious.  He  told  me 
how  that  recently  he  had  nearly  lost  his  life  by  his  refusal 
to  observe  a  certain  Fang  custom  which  I  venture  to 
mention.  Angona  had  been  visiting  a  friend  in  another 
town  and  had  refused  to  assume  the  marital  relations  of 
his  host,  according  to  their  friendly  custom.  The  friend 
was  angry,  suspecting  that  something  was  lacking  in  his 
friendship,  and  not  liking  to  see  an  old  custom  discarded. 
His  anger  subsided  however  at  Angona' s  explanation 
that  he  was  a  Christian.  But  not  so  the  woman's  anger. 
She  tried  to  kill  him  by  putting  poison  in  his  food. 

Angona  at  the  time  of  his  conversion  put  away  all 
of  his  wives  but  one.  He  had  paid  a  very  large  dowry 
for  each  of  them ;  so  that  in  putting  them  away  he  had 
also  put  away  his  wealth  and  to  a  large  extent  had 
surrendered  influence  and  social  position.  But  the  sur- 
render of  his  famous  collection  of  fetishes,  which  he 
had  gathered  among  many  tribes,  to  which  no  doubt  he 
owed  his  success  and  his  possessions,  occasioned  greater 
surprise  than  anything  else.  By  the  virtue  of  one  of 
these  fetishes  he  had  been  successful  in  matrimony,  and 
by  the  virtue  of  another  his  wife  had  not  deserted  him ; 
one  fetish  had  procured  him  success  in  trade,  another 
had  made  him  successful  in  war  ;  by  means  of  one  he 
had  recovered  from  a  dangerous  illness,  and  by  another 
his  gardens  had  prospered  ;  by  the  virtue  of  one  he 
could  cause  an  aggressive  enemy  to  "  swell  up  and  burst," 
and  by  another  build  an  invisible  fire  around  himself 
when  he  slept,  through  which  no  witch  could  pass.  And 
most  powerful  of  all  was  the  sacred  skull  of  his  father. 
All  the  people  of  the  town  stood  by  and  stared  as 
Angona  delivered  to  me  all  these  fetishes  ;.  but  at  last 
when  he  went  to  fetch  the  skull  the  women  were  warned 


SAINTS  AMONG  SAVAGES  315 

to  flee  lest  by  any  mischance  the  casket  might  open  and 
they  should  see  what  was  inside  and  die.  Angona  by 
this  renunciation  gained  the  reputation  of  being  a  particu- 
lar fool.  But  he  at  once  began  preaching  to  the  people 
and  before  many  months  there  was  a  class  of  sixteen 
Christians  in  that  town. 

As  soon  as  I  received  this  report  of  Angona's  work  I 
visited  the  town.  After  a  brief  service  at  which  all  the 
people  were  present,  I  asked  whether  there  were  any  sick 
people  in  the  town,  and  they  directed  me  to  the  house 
of  a  woman  who  was  recovering  from  a  long  illness. 
While  I  was  talking  to  her  another  woman,  one  of  the 
Christians,  came  in  and  setting  a  pot  on  the  ground  beside 
the  sick  woman,  said  :  u  The  pot  is  yours.  I  am  a 
Christian.  The  palaver  is  finished." 

Another  woman  arose,  and  going  over  to  the  woman 
who  had  brought  the  pot,  put  her  arm  around  her  in  a 
half  embrace  and  said  : 

"  Yes,  you  are  a  Christian  indeed." 

The  sick  woman  had  been  cared  for  by  the  other 
woman  during  her  illness  and  had  given  her  this  pot  for 
her  kindness.  Afterwards,  when  she  was  nearly  well 
she  repented  and  asked  for  the  pot.  When  it  was  refused 
she  gave  free  rein  to  a  very  sharp  tongue  and  roundly 
cursed  the  Bother  woman.  The  whole  community  had 
evidently  become  involved  in  the  quarrel,  which  was 
becoming  more  bitter,  when  this  Christian  woman  sud- 
denly brought  it  to  an  end,  as  I  have  told. 

A  few  weeks  after  this  one  of  my  catechists,  Amvama, 
visited  Angona's  town.  While  there  it  was  recalled  by 
the  heathen  people  of  the  town  that  a  party  belonging  to 
Amvama's  town,  in  the  days  of  cannibalism,  and  many 
years  before  Amvama  was  born,  had  killed  a  man  of 
their  tribe  and  had  devoured  him.  In  Africa,  it  is  con- 
sidered a  great  insult  to  a  man  to  eat  him,  an  insult  also 


316     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

to  his  friends,  such  an  insult  as  may  never  be  forgotten 
until  it  is  avenged.  During  the  night,  while  Amvama 
was  sleeping  in  Angona's  house,  the  people,  having  sur- 
rounded the  house,  called  Angona  out  and  told  him  they 
were  going  to  kill  Amvania.  It  would  have  been  a  great 
loss  to  the  work  and  a  grief  to  me  if  they  killed  him,  for 
Amvama  was  one  of  the  best  boys  in  all  Africa.  The 
handful  of  Christians  and  their  sympathizers,  with 
Angona  at  their  head,  replied  that  they  would  lay  down 
their  lives  in  defense  of  him.  The  heathen  probably  did 
not  expect  any  such  thing  ;  for  it  is  seldom  that  a  town 
is  divided  thus.  They  usually  act  as  if  by  one  impulse  ; 
but  Christianity  draws  new  lines,  makes  new  friends  and 
new  foes.  The  Christian's  friends  are  sometimes  those  of 
a  hostile  tribe,  while  his  foes  are  "they  of  his  own  house- 
hold." The  Christians,  with  Angona  at  their  head, 
gathered  close  around  Amvama  and  soon  showed  that 
they  meant  what  they  had  said.  They  were  few  of 
course  as  compared  with  the  heathen  ;  but  the  latter 
were  not  willing  to  kill  their  own  people.  Before  they 
had  time  to  plan  for  action  the  Christians  had  escorted 
Amvama  to  a  canoe  and  got  him  away  in  safety.  The 
next  time  I  visited  that  town  I  had  a  "war  palaver" 
with  those  people.  But  I  was  greatly  elated  over  the 
conduct  of  Angona  and  the  handful  of  Christians  whom 
he  had  taught. 

This  boy  Amvama,  who  was  rescued  from  savage 
bloodthirst  in  Angona's  town,  was  the  very  first  of  those 
African  boys  whom  I  gathered  around  me  in  the  French 
Congo  and  was  also  with  me  the  day  that  I  left  Africa, 
nearly  six  years  afterwards.  In  that  time  he  grew  from 
a  small  boy  to  a  young  man  of  probably  eighteen  years. 
I  used  to  say  that  he  was  the  best-loved  boy  in  Africa. 

Amvama  never  was  a  heathen.  He  was  born  close  to 
Angom,  and  in  his  childhood  never  even  saw  the  worst 


SAINTS  AMONG  SAVAGES  317 

forms  of  heathenism.  He  was  received  into  the  church 
by  Mr.  Marling  while  he  was  still  a  child ;  altogether 
too  young,  some  thought  j  but  the  years  fully  justified 
Mr.  Marling' s  judgment.  Among  the  most  impulsive 
people  in  the  world,  Ainvama  was  peculiarly  deliberate 
and  thoughtful.  I  have  seen  him  in  many  trying  situa- 
tions, but  I  never  saw  him  angry.  Among  a  people  who 
live  in  the  realm  of  emotion,  Amvarna's  distinguishing 
characteristic  was  common  sense.  In  school  he  was  not 
as  quick  to  learn  as  many  others,  but  such  was  his 
faithfulness  and  persistence  that  in  the  end  he  surpassed 
them  all,  and  he  had  a  saving  sense  of  humour  that 
always  added  gaiety  to  any  company.  On  one  occasion, 
on  a  journey  up  the  river,  when  I  was  accompanied  by 
a  white  man  with  an  extremely  bald  head — the  first  that 
the  crew  had  ever  seen — Amvarna  caused  the  natives 
and  one  white  man  to  smile  by  comparing  it  to  a  fresh- 
laid  egg — a  comparison  that  was  quite  new  in  Africa. 

In  the  early  days  before  the  Dorothy,  Amvama  was  my 
"boy,"  or  personal  attendant,  when  I  travelled  about  in 
the  Evangeline.  He  was  always  a  cleanly  boy,  according 
to  Fang  ideals,  but  the  Fang  ideal  leaves  something  to  be 
desired.  One  day,  in  the  Evangellne,  the  crew,  after  a 
long  pull  at  the  oars,  were  eating  oranges,  of  which  I  had 
brought  a  supply  from  the  orchard  at  Baraka.  I  gave 
them  my  table-knife  to  cut  their  oranges.  While  they 
were  still  eating  I  helped  myself  to  an  orange  and  asked 
for  the  knife.  It  was  passed  to  Amvama  who  handed  it 
to  me ;  but,  observing  that  it  was  dripping  with  the 
orange  juice,  he  wiped  it  carefully  on  his  bare  leg.  A 
short  time  before  I  left  Africa  I  told  Amvama  of  this 
incident,  which  he  had  forgotten.  Looking  at  me  in 
astonishment  he  said  :  "  I  ?  Did  I  do  that  ?  " 

It  seemed  incredible  to  him.  In  after  years  he  would 
no  more  have  done  any  such  thing  than  a  white  man. 


318     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

However  sincere  the  African  Christian  may  be,  the 
knowledge  of  Christian  morality  in  minute  particulars  is 
a  long,  slow  growth.  One  day,  out  on  the  bay  in  the 
Evangeline  and  running  before  a  fair  wind,  we  sighted  the 
sails  of  a  schooner  coming  towards  the  harbour  but  still 
far  out  at  sea.  Amvama  and  Captain  Makuba  disputed 
as  to  the  name  of  the  schooner.  Makuba  became  im- 
patient and  said  to  me:  "Mr.  Milligan,  I  wish  you 
would  tell  Amvama  that  he  must  not  contradict  me  ;  for 
he  is  a  small  boy  and  I  am  an  old  man."  I  had  always 
thought  that  Makuba  was  a  very  young  man. 

Finally,  these  two,  both  of  them  Christians,  and  per- 
fectly sincere,  decided  to  bet  on  the  name  of  the  schooner. 
The  bet  was  a  franc  cash  and  they  asked  me  to  hold  the 
money ;  whereupon  I  delivered  my  sermon  on  gambling. 

I  had  hoped  that  Amvama  would  be  the  first  ordained 
minister  among  the  Fang  ;  but  when  he  was  about  sixteen 
the  need  of  catechists  became  imperative  and  I  felt  com- 
pelled to  cut  off  his  further  education  and  send  him  out 
into  the  whitening  field  of  the  harvest.  This  was  a  great 
disappointment.  For  although  he  proved  himself  a 
faithful  and  invaluable  worker,  he  could  never  be  as  effi- 
cient as  if  he  had  had  adequate  training,  and  could  never 
be  entirely  independent  of  the  missionary's  supervision. 

I  placed  Amvama  in  a  large  town,  called  Ndumentanga, 
where  there  were  a  number  of  newly-professed  Christians 
who  were  eager  to  be  taught.  The  work  was  difficult  and 
trying  and  he  was  a  young  boy  and  inexperienced  ;  and, 
as  I  have  said,  had  never  seen  the  worst  of  African 
heathenism.  It  was  with  strange  feelings  that  I  left  him 
in  the  street  of  that  town  one  very  dark  night  when  the 
rain  was  pouring  down, — left  him  to  prove  himself.  For 
four  months  I  did  not  see  him  ;  but  I  had  the  fullest  re- 
port of  his  work,  and  it  was  most  satisfactory.  He  con- 
ducted a  daily  class  for  religious  instruction,  teaching 


SAINTS  AMONG  SAVAGES  319 

hymns  and  catechism  and  on  each  question  of  the  latter 
giving  explanations  and  practical  talks.  He  also  held  a 
service  on  Sunday  5  and,  besides,  taught  a  day-school  each 
morning  in  which  all  who  desired  might  learn  to  read  the 
Bible.  He  also  regularly  visited  other  towns  that  were 
not  too  far  away.  It  was  on  one  of  these  latter  visits 
that  he  had  the  narrow  escape  in  Angona's  town. 

For  the  next  two  years  Amvama  spent  most  of  his  time 
at  Ndumentanga.  Shortly  after  his  first  arrival,  a  man  of 
the  town,  who  had  been  visiting  another  town,  returned 
home  very  sick.  Amvama  called  on  him,  and  finding 
that  he  and  his  wife  had  become  Christians  while  away 
from  home,  he  instructed  them  daily  in  their  house,  fre- 
quently calling  all  the  Christians  of  the  town  to  go  with 
him,  and  sing  and  pray  with  the  sick  man.  He  was  with 
him  when  he  died,  seeking  to  strengthen  his  faith  ;  and 
the  people,  perhaps  for  the  first  time,  saw  a  man  die  with- 
out fear.  Then  the  heathen  wished  to  open  the  body,  in 
order  to  see  whether  the  man  had  been  bewitched.  But 
Amvama  with  quiet  authority  took  possession  of  the  body 
until  it  should  be  given  a  Christian  burial.  I  marvel 
that  a  young  boy  was  able  to  hold  out  against  them  and 
induce  them  to  forego  all  their  heathen  rites  ;  but  he  had 
won  the  love  and  confidence  of  all  these  people.  He  held 
a  brief  service  at  the  house  ;  and  when  the  body  was  placed 
in  the  grave  he  called  upon  the  people  to  be  quiet  while 
he  offered  a  prayer.  They  all  stood  by,  some  in  mute 
astonishment  at  a  Christian  burial  service,  others  laugh- 
ing and  falling  against  each  other  in  that  weak  abandon 
everywhere  characteristic  of  the  very  ignorant.  What  a 
scene  for  an  artist !  A  young  boy  standing  in  the  midst 
of  a  crowd  of  carnal  and  degraded  men  and  women,  some 
of  them  aged  ;  holding  fast  to  the  things  that  are  spiritual, 
contending  for  the  reality  of  those  things  that  are  not 
seen! 


320     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

For  several  years  Amvama  had  been  betrothed  to  a 
young  girl,  who  died  when  he  was  about  seventeen.  The 
dowry,  which  included  all  that  he  had  ever  earned,  had 
been  paid  and  the  girl  was  living  with  Amvama' smother 
until  she  should  be  of  marriageable  age.  It  is  the  univer- 
sal custom  among  the  Fang  that  when  a  girl  dies  before 
reaching  that  age  the  dowry  paid  for  her  must  be  re- 
turned. So  Amvama  was  entitled  to  the  dowry  which  he 
had  paid  ;  and  it  was  the  more  urgent  because  there  was 
no  dowry  for  him  anywhere  else  within  sight.  But  the 
girl's  people,  probably  taking  advantage  of  the  fact  that 
Amvama  was  a  Christian,  refused  to  return  the  dowry. 
Such  a  refusal  is  always  a  matter  of  war. 

One  evening  when  he  was  back  at  Baraka  for  a  few 
days,  he  came  to  see  me  desiring  my  advice  on  this  mat- 
ter of  the  dowry,  wishing  to  know  what  he  as  a  Christian 
ought  to  do,  but  not  wishing  to  ask  me  directly. 

Politeness  among  some  African  tribes  is  reduced  to  a 
fine  art.  One  of  its  chief  elements  is  indirection.  I  ask 
a  boy  whether  he  will  work  for  me  ;  and  he  replies  : 
"  Did  I  say  I  wouldn't  1 " 

Sometimes  the  third  person  is  used  instead  of  the  first ; 
one  is  occasionally  reminded  of  the  French  On  dit. 

After  an  interval  of  silence  Amvama  remarked : 
"Those  people  ought  to  pay  me  back  that  dowry." 

I  made  no  reply  ;  and  after  a  pause  he  said  :  "  Those 
people  are  treating  me  very  badly." 

Another  pause,  and  then  :  "  My  people  all  want  to  go 
to  war,  and  there  are  five  or  six  towns  of  my  people." 

Another  pause,  and  he  said  :  "I  tell  you  there  will  be 
blood  spilled  ! " 

At  this  I  spoke  and  said  :  "  We  don't  need  the  help  of 
your  people,  Amvama;  you  and  I  will  go,  ourselves 
alone,  and  will  kill  all  the  people  of  that  town.  Upon 
our  arrival  in  the  town  we  will  hold  a  service,  and  of 


SAINTS  AMONG  SAVAGES  321 

course  everybody  will  come,  and  they  will  come  unarmed. 
After  singing  one  or  two  hymns  I  will  ask  you  to  offer  a 
prayer ;  and  while  you  are  praying  I'll  open  fire  on  the 
congregation  and  we'll  make  short  work  of  them." 

He  laughed  and  said :  "I  only  wished  to  know  what 
you  thought." 

"Why,  then,  did  you  not  ask  me?"  I  said. 

He  replied:  "I  think  I  have  been  asking  you  ever 
since  I  came  in." 

The  people  would  not  give  back  the  dowry,  and  Am- 
vama  would  not  let  it  come  to  a  clash  of  arms ;  so  he 
surrendered  it  But  about  a  year  later  his  brother  (more 
likely  a  cousin)  died,  leaving  two  wives,  who  by  the  law 
of  inheritance  became  Amvama's  property.  Both  of 
them  were  eager  to  marry  him.  One  of  the  two  was  as 
good  a  woman  as  he  could  have  found,  and  he  afterwards 
married  her.  The  other  he  gave,  with  her  consent,  to  a 
cousin  who  was  single. 

In  the  examination  of  candidates  for  baptism  I  had  to 
rely  very  much  upon  Amvama's  judgment  in  regard  to 
those  whom  he  had  taught.  In  one  of  the  towns  where 
he  had  taught  there  was  a  young  man  who  had  been  a 
Christian  for  more  than  two  years  and  who  had  attended 
the  classes  faithfully  ;  and  yet  Amvama  did  not  recom- 
mend him  for  baptism.  I  asked  him  the  reason,  and  he 
said  that  there  was  only  one  thing  against  him,  and  noth- 
ing else  ;  he  was  lazy — so  lazy  that  he  was  ridiculed  in 
the  whole  town.  Amvama  said:  "He  will  bring  re- 
proach on  his  religion.  And  I  think  that  since  his  faith 
enables  him  to  do  other  things  that  he  did  not  do  before, 
it  ought  also  to  enable  him  to  do  a  little  work." 

A  few  months  before  Amvama  left  Ndumentanga,  war 
broke  out  between  that  town  and  a  town  of  the  Bifil  peo- 
ple, a  clan  of  the  Fang  who  had  come  but  recently  from 
the  far  interior  and  were  very  savage.  A  Bifil  man  had 


322     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

stolen  a  woman  of  Ndumeutanga.  The  old  chief,  who 
was  a  bloodthirsty  heathen,  told  the  town  to  prepare  for 
war.  But  he  found  a  rival  in  Amvama  who  advised  that 
they  must  first  make  every  effort  to  get  the  woman  back 
without  shedding  blood,  which  could  probably  be  done 
through  her  father's  influence.  Amvama  also  told  them 
that  the  fetishes  upon  which  they  were  depending  for 
protection  were  useless. 

The  chief  was  disgusted  at  the  suggestion  of  a  peaceful 
settlement  of  the  affair,  and  passionately  cried  for  war ; 
and  the  people  eagerly  responded.  The  most  that  Am- 
vama could  do  was  to  hold  the  Christians  firm  to  their 
duty.  As  the  chief  exhorted  Amvama  exhorted  too,  but 
without  the  least  passion  or  excitement.  The  town  was 
divided  between  these  two  :  an  old  chief,  the  very  em- 
bodiment of  the  heathenism  of  the  past ;  and  the  young 
boy,  representing  the  future — the  authority  of  a  Christ- 
enlightened  conscience  and  the  power  of  a  Christian  life. 
The  heathen  went  to  war  ;  but  the  Christians  refused  to 
go  and  so  broke  with  an  immemorial  custom. 

They  attacked  the  town  of  the  Bifil,  but  the  only  result 
was  that  several  of  their  own  men  were  killed.  The  Bifil 
secured  the  body  of  one  of  them,  and  it  was  reported  to  me 
that  they  followed  the  interior  custom  and  cut  the  body 
in  pieces,  sending  a  piece  of  it  to  each  of  their  towns. 
If  they  did  this  it  would  be  a  call  to  arms.  The  pieces 
of  the  body  would  be  boiled  and  eaten,  and  thus  it  would 
become  a  strong  fetish  protection  against  the  enemy. 
The  people  of  Ndumentanga  returned  home  from  the  war 
with  sore  hearts  and  with  less  faith  in  their  fetishes. 

The  war  went  on  more  desperately  and  it  became  unsafe 
for  Amvama ;  so  I  went  after  him  and  brought  him  back 
to  Baraka.  But  he  returned  from  the  field  of  his  labours 
bringing  his  sheaves  with  him,  in  men  and  women  res- 
cued from  degradation  and  sin,  and  in  the  love  of  many. 


2  u 
—  TJ 

B.S 


SAINTS  AMONG  SAVAGES  323 

When  I  left  Africa  I  felt  that  I  was  leaving  many 
friends  behind  me ;  humble  friends  but  true,  and  I  cher- 
ish the  memory  of  their  devotion.  Some  of  them  I  loved 
because  they  were  lovable,  and  others  for  the  labour  and 
anxiety  expended  upon  them — the  sweat  of  the  brow,  and 
the  brain  and  the  heart.  But  there  were  none  whom  I 
loved  more,  and  there  are  none  whom  I  more  often  long 
to  see,  than  Amvama  and  Ndong  Koni. 

I  cannot  close  these  sketches  without  some  reference  to 
another  who  was  an  invaluable  helper  in  the  work  among 
the  Fang.  He  was  totally  blind.  He  bore  an  English 
name,  Robert  Boardman,  and  had  no  African  name.  The 
natives  called  him  Bobbie.  He  was  not  a  Fang  but  an 
Mpongwe,  and  his  mother  was  an  American  Negress. 
His  father  was  educated  at  Baraka  away  back  in  the 
early  days  when  the  missionaries  were  allowed  to  use 
English,  and  he  spoke  English  well.  When  he  was  a 
young  man  he  came  to  America.  In  those  days  Africa, 
to  Americans,  was  a  romance  rather  than  a  reality.  Any 
chief  of  a  village  or  head  of  his  own  family  coming  here 
was  called  a  prince.  So  young  Boardman  (Eobert's 
father)  passed  himself  off  as  a  prince,  and  probably 
without  any  intentional  deception.  He  married  a  Ne- 
gress of  the  South,  who  supposed  that  by  her  marriage 
she  became  a  princess.  She  left  family  and  friends  all 
behind  and  went  to  Africa.  The  disillusionment  was 
very  hard  and  very  bitter ;  and  at  last,  inevitably,  she 
sought  relief  in  drink.  She  was  evidently  a  woman  of 
superior  mind,  if  one  might  judge  by  her  children,  of 
whom  there  were  five.  One  of  these  was  poor  Augustus 
Boardman,  of  whom  I  have  written  in  another  chapter, 
and  whom  drink  brought  to  an  early  grave. 

Kobert  was  the  youngest  child.  He  was  a  very  inter- 
esting boy,  and  intellectually  far  above  the  average.  As 
a  young  man  he  lived  the  dissolute  life  that  was  general 


324     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

among  the  Mpongwe  of  Gaboon.  His  blindness  was  the 
last  result  of  his  dissipation,  and  was  also  the  cure.  He 
never  walked  alone  again  ;  a  little  boy  led  him  by  the 
hand.  Blindness  is  a  more  terrible  affliction  in  Africa, 
where  the  helpless  are  neglected,  and  where  roads  are 
rough  and  often  infested  with  ants  or  snakes. 

He  was  extremely  unhappy  after  his  blindness.  There 
were  times  when  it  seemed  that  it  would  drive  him  mad. 
In  his  misery  he  made  others  miserable  around  him. 
Poor  material,  one  would  surely  say,  for  the  grace  of  God 
or  any  other  moral  influence  to  work  upon — this  physical 
and  moral  wreck.  But,  as  I  once  heard  a  reclaimed  out- 
cast say,  ' '  Jesus  loves  to  walk  by  the  seashore  where  the 
wrecks  come  in." 

When  I  went  to  Gaboon  I  engaged  Robert  as  my  inter- 
preter ;  for  he  knew  Fang  as  well  as  he  knew  Mpongwe. 
Then,  when  I  could  speak  Fang  without  him,  I  under- 
took the  Mpongwe  work  and  I  used  him  as  my  inter- 
preter to  the  Mpongwe  ;  so  he  continued  in  my  service. 
The  first  year,  when  I  was  itinerating  among  the  Fang 
and  travelling  in  the  Evangellne,  he  went  everywhere 
with  me.  I  recall  one  evening  when  we  were  setting  out 
from  the  beach  in  a  very  heavy  sea  and  had  got  beyond 
the  surf  we  saw  Robert's  little  attendant  on  the  beach 
very  much  excited  and  waving  to  us  to  come  back.  .  He 
was  yelling  something  to  us  which  we  could  not  hear 
distinctly  across  the  roaring  surf,  but  I  thought  he  was 
trying  to  tell  us  something  about  "  Bobbie's  wife."  Very 
reluctantly  I  told  the  crew  to  go  back.  We  were  already 
in  the  surf  and  were  going  ashore  as  if  pulled  by  wild 
horses  when  at  last  we  made  out  what  the  boy  was  say- 
ing, namely  :  "Bobbie  has  forgotten  his  pipe." 

The  African  has  no  mental  perspective,  according  to 
our  ideas ;  things  great  and  small,  the  most  momentous 
and  the  most  trivial,  appear  upon  a  flat  surface  of  equal- 


SAINTS  AMONG  SAVAGES  325 

ity.  But  it  would  scandalize  an  African  to  hear  one 
speak  of  a  pipe  in  this  disrespectful  way. 

Eobert  had  an  unusual  mind  and  was  athirst  for  knowl- 
edge. His  interpreting  was  a  kind  of  education  for  him 
and  he  made  the  most  of  it.  He  was  always  alert  for  new 
words  and  their  exact  meaning,  and  he  had  an  excellent 
memory.  There  was  also  a  vein  of  poetry  in  him.  I 
once  heard  him,  in  offering  an  evening  prayer,  ask  God 
that  Satan  might  not  sow  the  tares  of  bad  dreams  in  our 
sleep — the  more  appropriate  because  of  the  native  regard 
for  dreams  and  the  habit  of  vivid  dreaming. 

But  his  chief  love  was  music.  He  was  passionately 
fond  of  it,  and  he  had  a  good  tenor  voice.  Shortly  after 
I  first  knew  him,  when  he  was  so  unhappy,  I  began  to 
give  him  some  instruction  on  the  organ  each  day  after 
class.  My  only  intention  was  to  lighten  his  misery  and 
relieve  his  solitude.  I  had  not  the  least  thought  of  any 
return  in  missionary  service.  The  little  organ  which  I  used 
in  itinerating  I  left  with  him  between  journeys.  It  was 
a  new  and  delightful  way  of  spending  the  hours,  and  he 
became  more  cheerful.  In  two  years  a  very  great  change 
had  taken  place  in  him.  He  was  both  cheerful  and  de- 
vout. When  the  time  of  harvest  came  in  the  Fang  field 
and  I  had  need  of  catechists  he  was  well  equipped  for 
the  work  and  I  sent  him.  He  took  the  organ  with  him  ; 
for  he  played  the  Fang  hymns  and  played  them  well. 
When  a  secretary  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  after- 
wards visited  Africa  he  found  Eobert  Boardman  among 
the  Fang,  preaching  and  singing,  and  he  made  special 
mention  of  him  on  his  return  to  America. 

Eobert,  through  the  agency  of  my  matrimonial  bureau, 
married  a  Fang  woman,  Nze,  who  loved  him  devotedly. 
She  was  a  remarkably  good-looking  woman — almost  beau- 
tiful. Poor  blind  Eobert  never  saw  her  ;  and  one  day, 
after  he  had  been  married  for  some  time,  I  delighted  him 


326     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFEICA 

— and  saddened  him  too— by  giving  him  a  minute  de- 
scription of  her.  For  a  while  after  his  marriage  I  placed 
him  at  Ayol,  which  was  Nze's  town.  After  several 
months,  when  I  was  at  Ayol,  I  decided  to  take  him  to 
another  town.  Then  the  heathen  relations  of  ~Nze  sud- 
denly discovered  that  he  had  not  given  sufficient  dowry, 
although  he  had  given  all  they  asked.  It  was  never  half 
so  hard  to  get  my  African  friends  married  as  to  keep  them 
married. 

The  family  of  Nze  secured  her  in  a  house  while  they 
talked  the  palaver  with  Robert,  telling  him  that  he  had 
not  paid  what  they  had  asked.  The  street  was  filled 
with  people  and  there  was  the  wildest  excitement.  The 
chief  of  the  town  was  not  there,  and  when  I  saw  that  my 
powers  of  persuasion  were  not  adequate  for  the  occasion, 
I  told  Robert  that  as  it  was  now  late  in  the  night  we 
would  go  without  Nze,  and  that  I  myself  would  after- 
wards talk  the  palaver  with  the  chief  and  would  do  all 
that  I  possibly  could  to  get  Nze  back.  He  yielded,  but 
he  was  almost  broken-hearted. 

We  got  into  our  canoe  and  started  for  the  Dorothy, 
which  was  anchored  a  little  below  the  town.  When  we 
came  alongside  whom  should  we  find  in  the  launch  but 
Nze  !  She  had  broken  out  of  her  prison-house  when 
night  came — but  I  can't  imagine  how,  unless  some  Chris- 
tian woman  helped  her — and  stealing  through  the  dread- 
ful mangrove  swamp,  had  reached  her  canoe  and  had  gone 
to  the  launch.  At  the  very  moment  that  I  saw  her  we 
heard  the  wildest  yelling  behind  us.  The  people  of  the 
town  had  just  discovered  her  escape;  and  they,  of 
course,  thought  that  we  had  stolen  her.  I  shouted  to 
the  crew  to  "stand  by"  for  their  lives.  We  sprang 
aboard,  and  while  weighing  the  anchor  put  out  all  the 
lights.  What  if  the  anchor  should  be  fouled,  as  it  was 
last  time,  when  it  delayed  us  half  an  hour ! 


SAINTS  AMONG  SAVAGES  327 

Our  pursuers  were  rapidly  drawing  nearer  and  were 
almost  upon  us.  They  included,  I  presume,  every 
heathen  savage  in  the  town,  each  of  them  yelling  like 
ten,  and  perhaps  engaged  meanwhile  in  loading  their 
guns  with  such  deadly  material  as  broken  pots  and 
barbed  wire.  At  last,  "  All  right,"  shouted  the  mate; 
and  we  moved  off  just  as  the  enemy  in  a  fleet  of  canoes 
came  round  the  last  curve  of  the  narrow  river.  I  had 
made  our  party,  including  Nze,  lie  down  flat  in  the  bot- 
tom of  the  launch ;  only  Ndong  Koni  at  the  wheel  and 
myself  at  the  engine  remained  standing.  Despite  rage 
and  excitement  I  did  not  expect  that  they  would  fire 
upon  us.  But  I  very  much  feared  that  a  stray  shot,  in- 
tended only  to  intimidate  us,  might  do  us  as  much  dam- 
age as  the  "  bow  drawn  at  a  venture"  did  to  a  certain 
king  a  long  time  ago.  We  were  soon  beyond  their 
range  ;  and  then  Eobert's  gladness  and  the  unbounded 
joy  of  Nze  were  a  sufficient  reward  for  us  all.  For  my 
part,  I  was  exceedingly  glad  that  Nze's  husband  was 
present ;  otherwise  an  elopement  would  have  been  credited 
to  me. 

A  short  time  before  I  left  Africa  I  was  conducting  a 
prayer-meeting  in  an  Mpongwe  town,  at  which  Eobert 
was  present.  He  rose  and  told  the  people  about  his  work 
among  the  Fang  and  what  great  changes  were  taking 
place  through  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel,  which  must 
surely  be  the  power  of  God.  Then  in  closing  he  told 
them  something  of  the  new  joy  that  had  come  into  his 
own  life.  He  said  that  although  at  first  he  had  been  bit- 
ter and  rebellious  against  the  fate  that  had  turned  his  day 
into  night,  yet  he  had  lived  to  thank  God  for  sending 
even  this  affliction  ;  for,  in  his  blindness,  he  had  wearied 
of  the  "far  country,"  and  like  the  prodigal  had  come 
home.  In  Christ  he  had  found  pardon  and  peace  j  and 
finally  he  had  been  permitted  to  go  as  a  missionary  to 


328     THE  FETISH  FOLK  OF  WEST  AFRICA 

the  Fang,  whom  he  had  learned  to  love,  and  many  of 
whom,  he  was  sure,  loved  him. 

"I  know,"  said  he,  "that  I  shall  never  see  this  world 
again,  nor  the  faces  of  my  friends ;  but  I  am  walking  in 
the  light  of  heaven." 

In  a  deep  undertone,  full  of  wonder,  full  of  sympathy, 
full  of  tears,  they  all  responded  :  "  A-y,  Bobbie  !  A-y, 
Bobbie  I " 


AFRICA 

The  Redemption  of  Africa 

FREDERIC  PERRY  NOBLE 

Illustrations,   Maps  and  Tables,  2  vols.,  8vo,  Cloth,  $4.00. 

The  subtitle  of  this  book,  "A  Story  of  Civilization,"  ic 
a  moit  fitting  supplement  to  the  distinctive  title.  "No  book 
on  any  land  surpasses  this  in  thoroughness  of  preparation, 
wealth  of  citation,  impartiality  of  judgment,  and  the  pre- 
dominant desire  to  tell  nothing  but  the  truth." — N.  Y.  SHU. 

Dawn  in  the  Dark  Continent;  Or^cs?0™d  ite 

JAMES  STEWART,  M.  D.,  D.D. 

Colored  Maps,  8vo,  Cloth,  $2.00  net. 

There  has  probably  been  no  man  more  competent  to 
outline  the  missionary  work  in  Africa  than  the  veteran 
founder  of  the  famous  Lovedale  Institute.  This  is  ju»t  what 
he  has  done  in  this  volume,  supplementing  it  by  some  in- 
valuable comments  on  the  training  of  a  missionary. 

The  Egyptian  Sudan 

REV.  JOHN  KELLY  GIPFEN 

Illustrated,  15 mo,  Cloth,  $1.00  net.  * 

•  This  new  mission  field  of  the  American  United  Presby- 
terian Church  has  been  recently  brought  into  prominence 
by  John  D.  Rockefeller's^gift  to  it  of  $100.000.  Mr.  Giffen's 
book  describes,  in  -  most  interesting  style,  the  unique  problems 
faced  in  such  a  country.  The  Interior  knows  of  "no  other 
book  so  full  of  information  as  to  a  great  military  and 
economic  center  on  the  Cape-to-Cairo  railway. 

On  the  Borders  of  Pigmy  Land 

Illustrated,  I2mo,  Cloth,  $1.25  net.  RUTH  B.  FISHER 

Mrs.  Fisher  is  a  successful  author  and  has  written  a  book 
which  commands  the  enthusiastic  approval  of  "all  sorts  and 
conditions"  of  papers,  missionary,  religious  and  secular.  The 
Mountains  of  the  Moon,  the  Great  Lakes,  the  Uganda  Rail- 
way, Pigmies  and  other  tribes  combine  to  give  a  rare  and  sig- 
nificant setting  to  the  work  of  the  missionary. 

Pioneering  on  the  Congo 

•    REV.  W.  HOLMAN  BENTLEY 

Illustrated,  »  vols.,  8  vo,  Cloth,  $5.00  net. 

The  Jungle  Folk  of  Africa!  • 

With    introduction    by    Robert    Mackenzie,    D.D.,    LL.D. 

Illustrated,  net,  $1.50.  ROBERT  H.  MILUOAM 

"A  book  that  is  remarkable  for  its  vitality,  picturesque- 
»e*«,  humor  and  literary  quality.  Mr.  Milligan  saw  a  lot 
during  his  seTen  African  years,  and  saw  it  all  very  clearly, 
so  tkat  he  came  away  with  a  pretty  thorough  knowledge 
•f  tie  folk  among  whom  he  had  lived." — N.  Y.  Times.. 


AFRICA 

Rithon  Hannintfton      and  The  story  of 
Disnop  iianmngion   the  Uffanda  MlsBlon 

Illustrated,  net,  $1.00.  W.  ORINTON  BERRY 

"One  always  reads  the  romance  of  Bishop  Hannington's 
life  with  fascination.  This  record  deals  with  the  early 
life  of  the  martyr  missionary  and  of  the  influences  that  led 
to  his  giving  his  life  to  the  cause.  It  is  a  graphic,  racy  and 
altogether  stimulating  volume." — United  Presbyterian. 

Daybreak  in  Livingstonia 

*         JAMES  W.  JACK,  M.  A. 

Illustrated,  12010,  Cloth,  $1.50  net. 

"One  of  the  best  missionary  histories,  combining  possibili- 
ties of  romance  almost  as  thrilling  as  King  Solomon's  Mines, 
With  a  calm  presentation  of  visible  and  tangible  results_  that 
ought  to  open  the  eyet  of  any  who  still  consider  Christian 
Missions  a  failure." — Glasgow  Herald. 

In  Afric's  Forest  and  jungle  » 

Illustrated,   ismo,  Cloth,  $1.00.  REV.  R.  H.  STONE 

A  record  of  Six  Years  Among  the  Yorubans  on  the 
West  Coast  of  Africa,  with  numerous  tales  of  thrilling  ex- 
periences growing  out  of  the  wars  between  the  great  African 
tribes."  A  vivacious  and  dcenlv  interesting  volume." 

The  Sign  oi  the  Cross  in  Madagascar 

REV.  J.  J.  KILPIN  FLETCHER 

Illustrated,   isrno,   ClotH,   $1.00. 

With  remarkably  vivid  touch  the  author  describes  the  early 
conditions,  the  coming  of  the  "strange  messengers,"  the 
"mighty  faith,"  the  bitter  persecution,  the  divine  interposi- 
tion, the  changes  and  the  victory  of  the  Cross. 

The  Personal  Life  of  David  Livingstone 

W.  GARDEN  BLAIKIE,  D.  D. 

Portrait  and  maps,  8vo,  Cloth,  $1.50. 

Thii  standard  life  of  the  great  missionary  and  explorer 
has  the  peculiar  advantage  of  the  special  authorization  by  his 
family  to  use  unpublished  journals  and  correspondence.  There 
is  thus  a  peculiar  power  in  its  presentation  of  what  the  S.  S. 
Times  calls  his  "simple  but  noble  life  of  self-iurrender  to  a 
great  motive." 

Pilkington  of  Uganda 

*  C.  P.  HARFORD-BATTBRSBY,  M.  A.,  M.  D. 

Illustrated,  8vo,  Cloth,  $1.50. 

A  fitting  sequel  to  the  biography  of  Alexander  Mackay, 
covering  with  that  a  moral  transformation  equal  perhaps  to 
anything  recorded  even  in  apostolic  days. 

A  Life  for  Africa 

Illustrated,  12  mo,  Cloth.  $i.2S.          ELLEN  C.  PARSONS 


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.  •       MAR  2  8  1996 


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